Why Murder Drones is a Perfect Watch for Halloween (and Anime Fans)
As an anime blog, we here at D&A Anime tend to talk about anime and anime-related topics. That being said, whenever we find a show or something else that’s interesting enough, we don’t mind bringing it up. And with the Halloween season now upon us and the need to find creepy, kooky, spooky and scary stuff to watch and play, now’s a good time to talk about one of the best indie horror comedy shows online: Murder Drones.
Produced by Australian-based indie studio Glitch Productions, Murder Drones debuted on YouTube back in October 2021. It ended its run in August of this year, racking up eight episodes with an average of 28 million views per video. The series and its line of merchandise have proven to be extremely popular, and while it’s not an anime, if you look hard enough, you can find some anime influences in it. More importantly, though, it can get genuinely scary; TV tropes even points out how each episode outside the finale pays homage to a different famous horror film.
So, why not talk about it?
The Basic Plot
A thousand years from now, humankind’s spread out across the stars to create an intergalactic society. And to help them run it, they’ve created autonomous robots to serve as an easy source of labor, the Worker Drones. Then one day, on the exoplanet Copper 9, the core collapsed and left the planet a frozen wasteland devoid of organic life.
After that happened, the Worker Drones managed to form their own society and become self-sufficient and free. However, in what seemed to be a reversal of the “man vs. machine conflict,” the rest of humanity decided to destroy the remaining Drones using Disassembly Drones. AKA Murder Drones, AKA the gun-toting, sword-wielding, nanite-acid-injecting robots that feast on Drone oil like vampires do with blood. So the Drones all decide to hide behind three massive doors to survive. Then one day, Uzi, a young, angsty, and rebellious teen Drone decides to venture outside to fight the Murder Drones, only to discover that they’re part of something much, much worse.
Uzi Reminds Me of Eren Yeager, but Angrier
While Murder Drones isn’t an anime, I should point out that the initial plot has many similarities to Attack on Titan. A group of people hiding behind giant barriers from a seemingly unstoppable enemy. A rebellious youth that wants to free their people and wipe out their enemies. Even the part where they discover they have an eldritch power that’s both a blessing and a curse. The main difference is that unlike Eren Yeager, Uzi Doorman quickly abandons her “kill the Murder Drones and then all humans” mentality. She’s got bigger fish to fry.
I think Uzi Doorman is what everyone thought people who liked anime were like before it went mainstream. She’s an angry, rebellious goth who likes wearing Hot Topic, listening to nightcore, and pirating anime. Like I said, what people thought of those who liked anime before it was cool. But as the show, other characters, and even herself point out, a lot of her baggage stems from abandoment issues stemming from losing her mom at a young age and her dad neglecting her.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have N, the Murder Drone that Uzi befriends. Despite being supposed to kill the Worker Drones, N is easily the nicest character on the show. It doesn’t take much for Uzi to get him to quit his so-called “mission” after she points out how he’s just being used by whoever sent him. The two of them form that odd “opposites attract” friendship that serves as the heart of the show and provides much of its comedy.
Murder Drones is a Homage to Horror
Do not be fooled, though. Underneath the witty one-liners, jokes, and fights that wouldn’t look out of place in RWBY or a shonen series, Murder Drones is still a horror series. As stated at the start, almost every episode runs the gauntlet of horror films. We’ve got Alien, Carrie, Friday the 13th, and The Exorcist, and there are a ton of other horror tropes in effect. And that’s not even including the mystery surrounding the origin of the Murder Drones. And the more that gets uncovered, the more you start to realize that it goes beyond a man vs. machine conflict. It crosses the border into cosmic horror on a Lovecraftian scale.
All eight episodes of Murder Drones are now up on YouTube. If you’re looking for something that’s got clever writing, great action, a deep mystery that will keep you on your toes, and will downright scare you, then you should watch it. It’s good for a binge session during the day!
