ENA (series)
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ENA (stylized as ƎNA) is a Peruvian avant-garde animated comedy series published on YouTube and Newgrounds and created by Joel Guerra. The series uses a mix of 2D and 3D animation and takes inspiration from many pieces of surrealist media and worldwide culture, typically of Peruvian and Japanese origin. The series takes place in a strange, almost post-apocalyptic, world inhabited by bizarre characters and creatures. The overall tone of the series uses surreal and comedic elements.
The series follows characters named Ena, with one appearing in Season 1 and another appearing in Season 2. Other characters also appear, such as the deuteragonists Moony (Season 1) and Froggy (Season 2), and minor characters, such as Robert and Brick Frog, who appear and act as NPC-like characters showcased in short interaction segments in the episodes.
All of the current episodes differ in their formatting. In the first episode Auction Day, it is presented as an animated episode primarily using dialogue and humor, particularly with Ena and her friend Moony interacting. Starting in the episode Extinction Party, the episodes gain a first-person computer game aesthetic from Ena's point of view and, starting in Temptation Stairway, seem to emulate video games even more with the introduction of many different locations within an episode (such as the Hourglass Meadow) and "items" that further progression into said locations (such as the Turrón). In Power of Potluck, Ena's adventure is instead largely shown from an isometric third-person point of view with the usual interactive cutscenes now having unique backgrounds with an added border and subtitles. Upon the release of a trailer for Dream BBQ, it was announced that it would be made into a playable first-person adventure game alongside the release of the usual animated episode.
Listing
There are currently four episodes in the ENA series, with a fifth installment in development. Each episode (with the exception of Auction Day) has a teaser released before the episode's release. Due to the event of Dream BBQ being made into a game as well as an episode, it currently has both a teaser and two trailers.
| # | Episode | Teaser(s)/Trailer(s) | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | N/A | Auction Day 
|
May 26, 2020 (YouTube, Newgrounds, Twitter) May 27, 2020 (Instagram) | |
| 2 | Extinction Party 
|
August 8, 2020 (Teaser) September 15, 2020 (EST) | ||
| 3 | Temptation Stairway 
|
October 23, 2020 (Teaser) February 15, 2021 (EST) February 16, 2021 (GMT) | ||
| 4 | Power of Potluck 
|
October 25, 2023 (Teaser) November 28, 2023 (EST) | ||
| 5 | TBA | Dream BBQ 
|
March 25, 2021 (Teaser) September 22, 2021 (First trailer) January 27, 2023 (Second trailer) October 20, 2023 (Delay announcement) |
Development
Season 1
The design of Ena was first revealed on February 23rd, 2020 (which would become ENA Day), on Joel Guerra's Twitter.[1] The post showed off Ena's design while explaining that Joel wanted to create "characters with strange shapes in a very colorful world where nothing makes sense". Due to positive reception, another image featuring Ena (alongside Moony) was posted with plans to use the concept in the future. Her initial name, ƎNA, was later revealed.[2] On May 2nd, more concept art involving Ena and Moony was shown off with the announcement of a short animation that would introduce them.[3]
On May 26th, the first episode, titled "Auction Day", was released on YouTube, Newgrounds, and Twitter. This episode marks the debut of the main characters Ena and Moony.
A preview for another ENA episode was shown on Joel's Patreon on August 1st, though its title and public reveal were not shown until seven days later when the teaser for Extinction Party was posted. On September 13th, 2020, an announcement stated that Extinction Party would release "next week" and would run for five minutes.[4] Two days later, Extinction Party was released.
Throughout September, another ENA episode was mentioned and teased. The title Temptation Stairway first appeared on Joel's Patreon on October 9th, though the teaser for the episode would not be released publicly until October 23rd. On November 20th, a preview for a new character was shown,[5] revealed in the episode to be The Shepherd. It was also stated that the next episode was "the end and beginning of something", hinting at the future of the series.[6] Some specifics about the episode were also given, stating that it would be fifteen minutes (which was later changed to seventeen minutes[7]) in length and had three different musicians (METAROOM, tertiaplox, and Oliver Buckland) composing music for the project.[8] On February 11th, 2021, a Tweet with the text "Very soon!!" announced Temptation Stairway was near,[9] to which it was released four days later.[10] Joel also thanked viewers on Twitter after Temptation Stairway got to Trending on YouTube and encouraged viewers to support the talented people who worked on the episode.[11]
On October 20th, 2023, alongside a delay announcement for Dream BBQ, a "special announcement" was stated to be revealed in the future,[12] which was revealed on October 25th to be a teaser for another episode titled Power of Potluck. On November 24th, Joel posted an image of a new character, revealed to be Ivy upon the episode's release, on his social media, with the caption "The next ENA short is closer than you can imagine".[13] Power of Potluck was released four days later.[14]
Trivia
- The first three Season 1 episodes have a letter pattern in their titles. The first word in the title ends with "-tion" while the second word ends with "y".
- It is unknown if this will be carried on with Season 2 after Dream BBQ.
- None of the episodes feature recurring characters other than the protagonists and deuteragonists. It is also unlikely that any minor characters will return in future episodes, according to a Tweet by Joel Guerra.[15]
- However, certain types of characters that have appeared in large numbers in the series have made appearances in multiple episodes. For instance, the Hourglass Dogs appear in both Auction Day and Temptation Stairway, while the Mannequins appear in both Temptation Stairway and Dream BBQ.
References
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1231746194780688384
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1238668626384871424
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1256671232088555528
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1305246469897760769
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1330001784446857216
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1347976182957015040
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1358252709703528449
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1353895669904400386
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1360047118652694528
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1361353883080142848
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1361873544477630465
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1715479770694119785
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1728122017889521760
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1729615023800975590
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1362880727168278529