Ranking Ranking Characters From 'The Amazing Digital Circus'

Image source: Reddit

To say that the indie animated miniseries The Amazing Digital Circus was a hit would be an understatement. From a pilot with almost half a billion views, the most ever for an indie animation project, to a box office haul of over 38 million for its finale theatrical release, once again breaking records, The Amazing Digital Circus has been inarguably the biggest smash hit in YouTube animation.

Part of the draw is its engaging, complex, and overall fun characters. Today we’re going to look at them and rank them from my least favorite to my favorite. Keep in mind that I don’t dislike any of them, some of them are just better than others. I’m not going to add side characters to this list, such as Gummigoo, the Gloink Queen, or Abel. Main cast only here. Also, there will be spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the finale, go do that now. So, without further ado…

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8: Bubble

Image source: YouTube

As I stated before, I don’t dislike any of the characters, but one of them had to be last, and it’s the circus’s resident bubble… Bubble. We never got a one hundred percent explanation on exactly what Bubble was. Some theorized that he was the blue AI introduced in Episode 8, while I’ve also seen things that say that Bubble was just another one of Caine’s creations that he made to be a hype man for himself.

Either way, Bubble can be a lot of fun, but I feel that he was a bit of a wasted opportunity. I’m not saying that Bubble had to be the blue AI, but there was always something off about Bubble beyond his crazy personality. It felt like the show was hinting at Bubble knowing more than he was letting on, even to Caine, but that never really got paid off. The last we see of him, he’s just a lifeless bubble in the void after Kinger deletes Caine. It’s a weak ending for such an intriguing character.

7: Zooble

Image source: YouTube

Out of all of the main cast besides Bubble, Zooble never really got an opportunity to shine. There were hints about Zooble’s background with a few things here and there to give concrete answers, but otuside of a few interesting moments during the therapy session with Caine, and a steadily deepening connection with Gangle, Zooble didn’t have any super meaty moments. Seeing someone who had absolutely no patience for the craziness of the circus was a great addition to the cast.

Zooble doesn’t care about any of it, and barely cares about any of the others in the beginning. The aspect of Zooble not being comfortable in the digital body because of none of the removable parts is interesting, but not as explored as I’d like. As successful as it was, I’m just going to say it, episode nine was the weakest by far. A large part of that is that it was spent mostly on Pomni and Jax, so the other characters kind of got pushed aside. As I didn’t feel that Zooble got many moments to shine as an individual, that’s how we get this placement.

6: Gangle

Image source: YouTube

Gangle gains a lot more points because of the excellent fast food episode. She goes from being a gimmick character who has her mask break constantly to showing that she can carry an entire episode. Her interactions with Jax are also really interesting, both in how it affects her, and how Jax seems to genuinely think that she likes it when he’s mean to her. However, just like Zooble, I feel that Gangle got kind of left behind in the finale.

A great scene between her and Zooble is set up after Jax abstracts, where she looks like she’s about to start pouring her heart out about her complex feelings regarding her tormentor being gone, but then it shifts to the next scene and we don’t get anything. It’s frustrating. I also feel like Gangle’s happy side when she had the comedy mask was a bit too lightly explored. We got some with the fast food episode, but the happy mask she had was just something she got from Zooble. Could have gotten a bit more from the character that had the least amount of lines in the main cast other than Bubble, epecially in the finale, but she’s still good. Her best moment is when she has the Tommy gun.

5: Kinger

Image source: YouTube

If you had me do this list back when we only had the first two episodes, I would have put Kinger at the bottom, maybe just above Bubble. Then episode three hit, and we got to see that there is far more to Kinger than just “he’s been in the circus for the longest, so he’s crazy.” It was theorized pretty early that Kinger had something to do with the creation of the circus, but seeing that slowly play out was great.

He was an underrated MVP during certain scenes, most notably the darkness scenes with Pomni and Ragatha. Plus he was often legitimately funny in a way that most of the other cast wasn’t. If I had to pick which scenes made me laugh, Kinger would probably be in most of them. At first Kinger just seemed like a one note joke character, but he got more interesting with every episode. I thought that the smart Kinger scenes were more interesting than the silly moments as a whole, but I’d probably have Kinger as the most improved character in the series, at least in terms of how much I liked them.

4: Ragatha

Image source: CarbonCostume

If you ask me, Ragatha gets a little too much hate, even though she might be the most realistic and relatable character in the circus other than Pomni. Her constant need to people please as a result of the toxic, traumatic relationship with her mother. Ragatha feels more real because I think we’ve all met, or have been, her. The person who wants peace and happiness at all cost. The interesting thing here is that it doesn’t really work. It might have at first, but by the time of the show, it’s not working anymore. Pomni comes to appreciate her support, but isn’t totally taken in by it.

Jax hates her for it. Gangle states “Oh, Ragatha. I love her, but… after a while it’s hard to tell how genuine she’s really being.” She even calls her attempts “my tricks” when venting to Kinger. The people pleaser can be a tiring character, but a people pleaser who’s failing at it and the cracks are showing in her mood is fascinating. It would have been interesting to see her have a full blown “i’m just going to embrace my dark side” moment like Pomni did, but it’s fine that she didn’t. Besides, the fandom hate intensified when Ragatha finally had a justified crashout during the softball game. She also got a touch left behind in the finale outside of a few moments, but she’s a solid character overall who doesn’t deserve the hate she gets, both in universe and out.

3: Jax

Image source: Reddit

At first, I would have put Jax at number one. He was easily the most memorable character in the series, and it was fun to get someone who had zero inhibitions. A self aware character who is the only one who seems to realize how absurd their situation is made for a great addition to the show. Gooseworx did a great job with the character, as lesser shows would have Flanderized Jax and just left him as the jerk who gets under everyone’s skin. That didn’t happen.

As early as episode four, we saw cracks appear in his bravado. He’s not a jerk with a heart of gold, despite what a lot of the fandom hoped, but there was more to him than we thought for the first few episodes. Obviously he shines the brightest during the finale, as it’s there that he gets fully fleshed out. I have a hard time finding fault in Jax’s characterization and role in the story, and if I’m being honest, the top three here are interchangeable to me. If I wrote this on a different day, I might have Jax at number one. And no, I didn’t go to the theater dressed as Spudsy’s Jax to watch the finale. Why do you ask?

2: Caine

Image source: Reddit

It’s no secret that the deranged ringmaster of the Digital Circus was based mostly on AM from Harlan Ellision’s I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. However, unlike his literary counterpart, Caine doesn’t begin deliberately torturing the cast until episode eight. What’s great about Caine is that you pick up little character details about him upon rewatching certain episodes. Caine, like AM, is fully restrained by his programming. He has a purpose that he’s completely devoted to fulfilling, entertaining the humans, but he’s literally incapable of fully understanding why they hate his adventures because that’s not information he has, so he has a hard time fully understanding what they’d actually like, and certainly can’t comprehend that they want to leave.

Hello, World!

It’s very creative characterization. Caine is torturing them, they want to leave, but he has no malice toward them until the penultimate episode. He creates an adventure that drags Pomni and Kinger to literal Hell, but he genuinely thinks that it would make Zooble enjoy the adventure. I love the moments where his AI nature comes through, such as when Zooble tells him “just forget it” and so he does, not remembering what they were talking about when Zooble says “just forget it” again. He’s not malicious, but genuinely doesn’t understand humans. That and he has a great singing voice, giving us the best song in the show.

1: Pomni

Image source: YouTube

Any good piece of media needs a good protagonist, and Pomni fits the bill here. What’s great is that she doesn’t fit in any neat category. Is she the straight man? Yes, sometimes. Is she the personification of her digital body, in that she is the one who speaks the most truth to power? Yes. Can she be goofy and embrace the madness around her? Yes. She’s the kind of complex protagonist that you can relate to. She’s nothing super special as a person, she’s an accountant for a supermarket chain in the real world, but she is perceptive about her fellow circusmates in a way that Ragatha tries to be, but doesn’t quite have down. She stops Gangle from abstracting by offering to finish her shift, she tells Ragatha how much she appreciates her on more than one occasion, and she doesn’t believe Jax when he tries to push her away during their big fight. However, even though she’s the protagonist, not every event revolves around her, which I appreciate. She’s the newest member of the circus, but I think that each of the characters comes to rely on her throughout the show in ways that feel natural. She’s definitely a positive influence on the circus. It makes me wonder how things would have played out with Kaufmo and Ribbit if they’d had Pomni to go to when they started losing it. Either way, Pomni is the top character in the show, and an excellent protagonist.

It’s sad to see the end of The Amazing Digital Circus, but I’m glad that it ended before it got stale. While the finale wasn’t the strongest, it still wasn’t bad, and the series has endless rewatchability. A large portion of that is the characters. Not all of them are as strong as some of the others, but there weren’t any that I disliked. I don’t want a second season, but if we got a few more five minute shorts here and there starring Pomni and the gang, that would be cool with me.

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