At present, the Western animation industry is almost completely in trouble. I often see people from different majors struggling to find jobs because the jobs simply don’t exist, even though anime is more successful than ever. I feel a little sad because I rewatched it recently. infinite trainan exceptional little show that only managed to last four seasons, really felt like the beginning of the end for Warner Bros. Animation.
Now, don’t get me wrong, these signs have been around for years. steven universe Often attacked by Cartoon Network, mostly for its explicit LGBTQ themes, despite how good it is Well, KO! let us be heroes It was canceled before it had a chance to tell all the stories it wanted to tell. The writing is on the wall, only the biggest hits will survive in the modern era. However, I think what happened with Mugen Train really highlights how Warner Bros. is going to approach animation.
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One is the way the show is distributed. The previous seasons aired on Cartoon Network in August 2019 and January 2020 respectively. But then, in May 2020, Warner Bros. finally launched its streaming service, then called HBO Max. In August 2020, the third season of Mugen Train was released and has now been moved to HBO Max, possibly because its tone may be a little too mature for Cartoon Network’s younger viewers (although shows like Adventure Time have a lot of adult content theme) .
Season 4 is also set to air on the streaming service in 2021, and it’s clear they’re both hurt by that fact. A severe lack of advertising both on and off HBO Max meant the show didn’t get the sales it should have (at least by Warner Bros. standards) and ultimately didn’t get a fifth season, despite having a fairly active fan base. Unfortunately, things got worse from that point on.
In 2022, it was completely removed from Max, which aired in seasons three and four. Beyond that, it gets worse! Because in 2023, the show was also removed from digital platforms, making it essentially unavailable to watch legally (it has since seemingly reopened, but being removed is still a weird and stressful thing).
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Now, Warner Bros. is dropping the live-action-animated hybrid Coyote vs. Acme, which tested so well that it was only actually released because it thought it would save more money by doing so than make money. Yes, we’re doing new Adventure Time shows, plus a new movie, and a second season of the spin-off Fiona and Cake, but that’s just leveraging existing IP, which is a big deal today. A popular move for most Hollywood studios.
Mugen Train could easily have been a show that could last season after season, and its anthology structure was perfect for that, but because some big names thought streaming was the future and ruined it — even though Warner Bros. is now moving away from streaming Max Originals The brand and its two biggest upcoming series, Penguin and Dune: Prophecy, are now streaming on HBO before coming to Max. There’s not even an animation like this that’s absolutely stunning Scavenger Rule The show is now hoping to get a second season on Netflix.
I really enjoyed some of Mugen Train’s content and think you should check it out if you can. Each season built the show’s weird world in such a fun, thoughtful, and interconnected way that the way it was handled will forever be a stain on Warner Bros.’ record (as if that wasn’t enough). I just hope that at some point, we at least get some kind of animation revival, because there’s something that live-action movies just can’t capture in the same magical way.
