Ena (Season 2)
“"Hope you don't mind, but could you tell me-- WHERE THE HELL IS THE BOSS?!?!"”
― Ena, Dream BBQ
Ena (also spelled as ƎNA) is a titular protagonist in the ENA series. This Ena is the protagonist of Season 2 of the series, having a gray/white and red colored body
Appearance
Ena is a feminine humanoid character. She possesses a (seemingly) multicolored body split into two, dual sides, with her right side being neutral-colored (the upper half presumably being a bluish gray and the lower half, along with her right ear, a yellowish white) and her left side being red (although her torso is completely red). Her right arm, right leg, and torso are polygonal/geometric (with her right limbs mostly white with gray "shading"), while her left arm and leg are smooth. Unlike Season 1 Ena, her right hand has sharp, claw-like fingertips with more joint muscle, and her left hand is mitten-shaped. Both her right and left eyes are triangular and point down and up, respectively. Her right eye also has a small black triangle under it, which resembles an eyelash. She sports roughly the same style of uneven black hair as Season 1 Ena, although this Ena's hair length is more equal and shoulder-length. Though, her right side’s hair shows her right ear and has triangular cuts between, while her left side’s hair is more similar to a bob-cut with more "smoother" bangs, and hides her left ear and has the same triangular ahoges. Her head, arms, upper body, lower body, and legs are detached and float from each other.
Her outfit consists of a light-pink collared T-shirt with red and pink striped suspenders. She wears teal shorts and darker teal socks. The sock on her right side reaches up to her thigh, and the sock on her left reaches up to her ankle. She also wears a cap, specifically resembling a student cap, that is the same teal color as her shorts and is adorned with a navy-blue ribbon and silver emblem.
When in talking through her "Salesperson" side, Ena's mouth and nose show on her left side, and they move to the opposite side when talking as through her "Meanie" side. Like Season 1 Ena, they are meant to look like the silhouette of a head looking to the side.
Alternate forms
Ena appears to have three known alternate forms that have appeared in the various teasers and trailers for Dream BBQ, and the game itself.
Purge Event / "Anxiety" form
In the game's release date trailer and when Ena attends the Purge Event, Ena changes into a variant of her "Meanie" side. The left half of her face is blacked out, and the right half is the same bluish gray color as the "shading" that is present on the upper half of her "Meanie" side's face, with white pupils and black scleras. A brown, branch-like object emerges from her chest (near where her heart would be), which extends around her body and gets tangled in her limbs, causing them to become dislocated. She can be seen shifting between this form and her regular "Meanie" form during the phone call with Froggy before she enters the event. This form shares the same dialogue text color and voice actor as Ena's "Meanie" form.
The form comes about in Chapter 1: Lonely Door when presented with the prospect of a party, even hearing about the Purge Event being an "event" is enough to start Ena's transformation, evidenced by vine-growing noises playing when she is just outside of the event. This form may have been hinted at in a piece of merchandise showing Ena with a vine growing out of her chest, showing it in the same spot as it grows in the trailer and game. Despite this, Ena is switched to her "Salesperson" side in the art.
Ena shifting between forms before the Purge Event. These portraits are labelled "Mean_04_Anxiety_TF" in the files.
A sticker showing Ena with a vine growing from her chest.
Hangover form
This form (named her "Hangover" form in the Dream BBQ credits) is seen when Ena reaches The Core. Her entire appearance is much more realistically and eerily humanesque, as her physiology is predominantly akin to a human instead of being cartoonishly geometric. Her body colors and hairstyle are similar to Ena's base form, although her entire face is bluish gray, along with her right arm, right leg, and torso. Her left body colors remain red, but a slightly darker shade than normal. She has martinique blue eyes with dark circles underneath, which could be due to exhaustion or possibly runny mascara, with small, black eyelashes similar to Ena’s base form, but for both eyes. In most of the artwork depicting this form, she also has a small bit of drool leaking from the left side of her mouth. This form's outfit is also slightly different when compared to Ena's more geometric forms, as her shirt now sports buttons and is beige instead of pink, with her pants more green and having more detail. Unlike the other forms, she seems to have shoes, which are light green slip-ons with dark green soles. Her socks are equally ankle-length, unlike the other forms, and also a darker green. Additionally, she has golden buckles that attach her suspenders to her shorts. Of course, the most notable aspect of this form is the large, orange, vortex-like hole in her chest, which emits small particles. Shown in the game, the hole generates an orange projection/hologram of Ena in her normal form without her hat, which Ena seems to talk through and grab objects through the projection from her hole and not through her humanesque, physical body, though she still uses the said physical body to walk.
Her cap is colored differently from Ena's base form, as it’s primarily bluish teal and has a yellow ribbon and a gold emblem. In the second Dream BBQ trailer, she is also seen with an orange outline around their mouth for a brief moment, not unlike the outline that surrounds the hole in her body. In the game, this seemed to slightly change, as the crown of the hat is teal while the visor is the same blue color.
Their first public appearance was on January 6th, 2023, in a Tweet by Joel Guerra notifying fans that a new Dream BBQ trailer would be released.[3] With the announcement was a GIF depicting this form of Ena crawling towards something, revealed in the second Dream BBQ trailer to be Spatulady. However, the connection between these two characters is currently unknown. Concept art of this form, showing her full appearance, was also revealed on February 9th.[4]
In the second Dream BBQ trailer, they are seen huddled on the ground in a barren landscape with many mannequin-like poles and various winding structures. She looks up to see the Spatulady, who is dancing under a spotlight, and she begins to desperately crawl towards the Spatulady while sweating. Later in the trailer, this Ena form is seen shakily holding one of the mannequins under a spotlight, which sports red spiral patterns on its chest and face.
While this form of Ena is only shown during The Core (since reaching this area causes a hangover according to one of the Amoeba Guys), her physical body is almost entirely gray and her projection talks from her right side with her feminine voice, which may suggest the "Meanie" side has some involvement in this.
Green form
This form's face and torso are both green and have several cracks, with her head leaking blue and purple liquid. Her right arm also leaks the same liquid, though it does not have any cracks. Her mouth is jagged and appears on both sides of their face. She has dark, round, sunken eyes with circular pupils. The color of the liquid and pupils is purple on her right and blue on her left. Her outfit and other features are unchanged. This form was first teased in the Dream BBQ trailer, where she appeared in a red spotlight and spun upside-down.
This form appeared again in a music preview showcasing a song by METAROOM for Dream BBQ, titled "The Purge Event".[5] Her face is partially obscured, and only a small amount of her head can be seen, which is visibly green but uncracked. While she is notably missing an arm, this is likely due to the fact attending the Purge Event requires a limb as payment to enter. The music preview was later privated on an unknown date, likely because the music is different in the final game.
In the second Dream BBQ trailer, she is seen standing in a deserted landscape with large, rotating megaphones emerging from the sky. She has no arms or pupils, and her face gradually begins to crack while making a chewing or teeth grinding motion. Additionally, her torso is notably green this time. Later in the trailer, her torso spins around, and her legs jump and dance as black rocks (presumably coal) rain from the megaphones. While this occurs, her pupils appear, and liquid begins to leak from the cracks in her face. Near the end of the trailer, she sits lifelessly on the ground with her eyes obscured as bullets rain from the megaphones. Notably, her cap was updated to have different colors from Ena's base form, as it is primarily green and the ribbon now being the same shade of green as the panels, the emblem being medium-dark gold, and the brim being very dark gray; this change is also reflected in a piece of promotional artwork.
This form does not appear within the first chapter of Dream BBQ, Lonely Door, but it can be presumed it was initially intended to appear during the Purge Event, as shown by the now-private music preview. Instead, a variant of Ena's "Meanie" side was used. Notably, some of the NPCs during the Purge Event refer to Ena as "Greena". Prior to the Purge Event, when interacting with the Vending Machine, it's possible her Green form is referenced as Ena begins to start panicking and yelling, with the background changing with bullets falling down on her head. She is shown looking down, and her arms are dislocated from their original spots and instead grabbing Ena's legs, which convinces the Vending Machine to sell their items to her.
Personality
Like the preceding Ena, this Ena’s personality is split in two contrasting versions of herself, though both sides have a few similarities.
Ena’s red side, being her "Salesperson" side, appears to have a more joyful expression. She is often seen smiling when her face is turned to this side. This side of Ena primarily acts very casual, calm, polite, charismatic, friendly, occasionally humorous, and generally acts as a stereotypical salesperson, such as being excessively agreeable and constantly lacing her speech with corporate and business phrases (e.g., "What are our business struggles today? Let me help you invest in your future", "What if I offer you something that can change your life forever?"). She makes religious references, such as implying "God knows the rest" when talking about herself and "blessing" others for their business. Alongside being overly associated with her job and business, she is shown to be very interested in other individuals who are workers, such as wanting to shake Coral Glasses' hand to collect her "genius germs", and willing to help the Taxi Driver start working again.
Her gray/white side, being her "Meanie" side, appears to be serious, loud, assertive, and choleric, as she is often depicted with a slight frown or neutral expression in merchandise and makes more notable annoyed expressions in the game. Unlike her laid-back and humble "Salesperson" side, she is verbally aggressive, blunt, demanding, and doesn’t waste any time when speaking. She constantly yells at and insults nearly everyone she meets, ranging from making sarcastic comments to dropping swear words. While both sides of Ena are depicted with a megaphone, it's mostly associated with the "Meanie" side, who even yells through the same megaphone at others, which she can seemingly pull out from her shirt. Despite being usually angry, she begins to panic when speaking with the Vending Machine, saying she isn’t going to do what they say either rebelliously or her actions being misinterpreted (hence "I’m not doing what you say I’m doing! I’m not doing anything! I’m not doing anything at all!")—possibly referencing something from her past. While also yelling at him sometimes, she seems to have more calmer and somewhat "nicer" moments when talking with Froggy over the phone (additionally, when briefly speaking with the Taxi Driver and after buying Mayonnaise from the Vending Machine). Her voice notably has an echo effect, with said echoes progressively becoming lower in pitch, mostly when she yells.
During her attendance at the Purge Event in her anxious form, she appears to be in a state of frustration and panic, her voice shaky and out of breath. She asks to leave the Purge Event so that she can get back to her job while making electronic beeping noises. This form may also be likened to Season 1 Ena's drunk form, as this form appears to be worsened by the drink given to Ena by the Counter Eye and Froggy states upon calling his number that Ena becomes "more of a disaster" after drinking. She makes comments on how she is constantly busy and shouldn’t be happy and having fun, yet also craves freedom, with the Bathroom being her escape. When in her "Hangover" form, she appears to be in a state of over-exhaustion and self-deprecation. As the name of the form would suggest, she very likely has traits and symptoms associated with being hangover, given her tired and gloomy-like appearance, motions, and tone of voice.
Ena, mostly her "Salesperson" side, seems to be passionate about working hard and helping others with their tasks. As said by one of The Witches, Ena is described as "an entity who loves overworking themselves." She prioritizes fulfilling tasks given to her. Her "Salesperson" side focuses more on strategic planning and "sweetening up" the customers, while her "Meanie" side is more direct and focused on getting the job done. However, compared to her "Salesperson" side, her "Meanie" side (possibly her gray/white side in general when including her Purge Event form) seemingly isn’t too fond of her job. While speculative, it’s possible Ena is forced to work, considering how Ena claims that her job is "a lifestyle" and her destiny, and how she says she is no longer the boss of herself. Since Ena is implied to overwork herself, she may be a workaholic (also considering that her left emotional side, seemingly being her primary, is named after and associated with a type of job, whereas Season 1 Ena’s left emotional side is named after an emotion). During the Purge Event, her "Salesperson" side, associated with her job, is inactive, causing the "Meanie" side to seemingly take control. Before entering and during the event respectively, she claims to "crave freedom" and is "regrettably hard-working". This seems to cause Ena to become aimless and anxious because she isn't working, as she is desperate to get back to her job in which she dislikes and calls it "deplorable." This may imply she can’t function well without her "Salesperson" side and/or doing "non-work" activities if she is presumably forced to work.
Contrasting Season 1 Ena, this Ena doesn’t seem to struggle with her two emotional sides (more particularly the right one, which, for both Enas, is associated with more negative emotions). For example, when talking with the Receptionist and Shaman, she swiftly switches between her two sides, even between sentences. Both sides tend to deliver the same message, but in different ways; when certain individuals claim they’re the Boss (particularly the Suspicious Man, Kane, the Vending Machine, and Shoryo), both generally disagree, with "Salesperson" Ena more polite ("Hmm…that’s infaccurate.", "I disagree.") and "Meanie" Ena more snarky ("Hah! Boss of what? Hogwash?", "You’re not fooling anyone, fraud!"). When the Taxi Driver was prevented from doing his job, both sides respond with "What a barbarity; who could dare?" but in different tones: "Salesperson" more genuinely shocked and upset, and "Meanie" being sarcastic and indifferent. Though, both sides seem to have contrasting views on how they personally feel about their job.
These two sides of her are similar to real-life examples of an employee who constantly works and puts up a facade for customers ("Salesperson"). At the same time, they truly feel annoyed with the customers and their job ("Meanie"), are depressingly exhausted, and may have workaholic tendencies ("Hangover", Purge Event form).
Interestingly, both sides of Ena seem to (mostly, but not strictly) use the hand of the opposite side; When "Salesperson" is active, she uses her right hand when talking, and vice versa with the "Meanie" side and the left hand.
Just like her Season 1 counterpart, Ena has both a feminine and a masculine voice,[6] with Aleks Le voicing her masculine voice and Nola Klop voicing her feminine voice. In the same voice preview, her masculine voice appears to be associated with Ena's "Salesperson" side, while her feminine voice appears to be associated with her "Meanie" side.[2] It is currently unknown if the voices are interchangeable between sides, much like how Season 1 Ena's voices functioned in Temptation Stairway.
The only instance the two sides swap expressions is in the Dream BBQ game trailer when she begins talking into the megaphone, where the "Meanie" side has a smile and the "Salesperson" side gains a small eyebrow, giving it an angry appearance. When first meeting Coral Glasses, Ena’s "Meanie" side also has a smile. Though, both of these instances could possibly be a small animation error, as the former is notable for a single frame, and the latter is most likely focused on "Salesperson" Ena and considering Ena’s head spins around Coral Glasses and may be difficult to draw her smiling from a different angle where the "Salesperson" side isn't as visible.
Creation
Ena's first appearance was in the teaser for Dream BBQ, though only her back was shown. Despite this, the colors of her arms and legs revealed she is red on her left and has neutral-based colors on her right, alongside the new outfit showing her shirt and hat. This later confirmed that a new Ena would replace the one from Season 1 after Temptation Stairway.
Her full appearance was revealed to the public on May 26th, 2021, on Joel Guerra's Twitter, showing her face and outfit from the front.[7] Concept sketches of Ena were also shown on July 20th on the same platform.[8]
During the development of Dream BBQ several other pieces of concept art featuring Ena were released, some of which showed short animation loops of her that would be used in the game/episode. An alternate green form of Ena was shown on Joel Guerra's social media on November 11th, 2021, which was previously teased in the first Dream BBQ trailer, although the form's name was not revealed.[9] This alternate form would also appear in a music preview posted on Joel Guerra's YouTube channel.[10] This form would also receive a slightly updated design with the release of the second Dream BBQ trailer, having the colors of their cap slightly altered from what was previously shown in concept art.
On January 6th, 2023, a third Ena form was revealed in order to tease the then-upcoming third Dream BBQ trailer.[11] Like the previously revealed green form, this form remained unnamed. Concept art of this form was posted to Joel Guerra's social media on February 9th of the same year.[12]
Around ENA Day, Ena’s gray/white and red sides were revealed to be named "Meanie" and "Salesperson" respectively in a teaser of her confirmed voices. [2]
Gallery
The Ena (Season 2) gallery can be found on the Gallery subpage.
Trivia
- Before the announcement of Dream BBQ, multiple Enas were hinted at in Temptation Stairway through The Shepherd's dialogue stating "Arghh...another ENA troublemaker".
- Ena is one of the unlockable avatars on Joelgc.com and can be customized with various unlockable colors.
- Ena's early concept art shows her with her left side being yellow, which is similar in design to Season 1 Ena.
- Coincidentally, Season 1 Ena's early concept art shows her with a white right side, making her slightly resemble Season 2 Ena.
- Ena's pose in her concept art slightly resembles the pose made by Demon Ena in Extinction Party; both bend their right arm behind their head, their left arm near their waist, and point their knees inward.
- Ena's phrase upon completing a job, "Bless you for your business", might be a play on "Pleasure doing business".
Cultural references and inspirations
- A small portion of the Dream BBQ trailer briefly showcases grayscale variants of Ena posing. These poses are nearly identical to ones quickly made by SALARYMAN 55/Otou-san in the animation Polygon Family - Morning Commute.[13]
- Ena's face was influenced by Pablo Picasso's painting, Girl before a Mirror, as is the case for Season 1 Ena.
- It is also possible she was inspired by another painting by Pablo Picasso known as Tête (Head), as it uses the same blue-tinted gray, white, and red coloration for the subject's face.[14] However, this may be a coincidence, as concept art revealed in a 2022 stream shows that Ena originally had red and yellow colored sides.
- Ena's outfit was stated on an ENA Day 2022 Twitch stream to be based on the outfit of Noppo, a character from the Japanese educational children's show Dekirukana. It was stated by Joel Guerra that he watched the show as a child, as it also aired in Latin American countries.
- Froggy is also based on the show's other main character, Gonta. This is likely why both Ena and Froggy are paired together.
- It was also stated in the same stream that Ena's hat was originally the same as Noppo's, though the hat was changed to a cap instead.
- Some of Ena's movements appear to reference the dance moves in the music video for "Taiso", a song by the band Yellow Magic Orchestra. These references include a GIF of Ena talking while dancing,[15] the pose that the green alternate form takes in their concept art, and her usage of a yellow megaphone in both concept art and the Dream BBQ game announcement trailer.
- Ena's green alternate form's head resembles structures in the game Space Funeral that appear as bloodied green heads.
- The hole in the chest of Ena's Hangover form may be a reference to/inspired by the character Kaiba from Masaaki Yuasa's Kaiba.
References
- ↑ Description refers to Ena as "she".
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1628890353523736577
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1611502107752026112
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1623846290080559107
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j2LJ0ktHoI
- ↑ File:S2EnaVoices.mp4
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1397620398611632130
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1417565725628289031
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CWJ2IcZME45/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j2LJ0ktHoI
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1611502107752026112
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1623846290080559107
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMmIva74FmA
- ↑ https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.112
- ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1531773993031811072