Sonic the Hedgehog (1996)
Here’s A Quick Story About Why I Started (And Why I’m Ending) This Blog
Back in 2016 during a particularly difficult mental health episode, I tracked down a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog online. I used to rent it on VCR from the local video store when I was a kid, and thought I could re-watch it as an adult as a way of easing my pain. I was right, but not in the way I imagined.
Sonic was different watching as an adult. It felt way shorter, less dramatic, and those wacky 90s characters were painful to watch. The background however, still looked incredible. I realised that if you were to look only at the scenery, your perception of the art itself would be radically altered.
I watched through the anime again, but this time I took screenshots the exact moment the characters were out of frame. Suddenly the work of the tireless animators usually hidden behind the story could be admired in a way it hadn’t been before. I decided to curate the screenshots to flow as a series of still images, and posted them up on Tumblr for others to appreciate too.
After Sonic, I started exploring the web for more cartoons. I found animation from around the globe, released from the 1920s to 2018, from indie artists to hollywood studios, from film, television and music videos. I wanted to highlight just how diverse and beautiful the world of animation truly is.
Now over 700 posts later, I’m back to the anime that started it all. I’m doing a lot better mentally, I’m starting my third year of university, I just started a second job, and I’m focusing more and more on my own creative endeavours. But that means I don’t really have enough time to work on the blog anymore.
Working on Cartoons Minus Characters for the past year and a half has helped me focus on how lovely the world can be, that so many humans from so many places have been creating worlds for us to lose ourselves in for so long. I’m truly grateful that so many of you out there have appreciated it too.












