Xenofiction Seeker

I don’t really know how to talk about this movie, it’s very confusing.

Well, basically it’s about a sex-crazed dog.

I don’t like movies with this kind of sexual and toilet humor at all, but I still watched it because I liked the animation, and, well, I don’t hate it, but I don’t really like it either. It’s entertaining, I guess. But without the sexual theme, it’s just another dog movie without anything particularly special.

What really saves it is the animation, which is delightfully smooth. The art is also a strong point, and the music is well-placed. Technically speaking, the movie is perfect.

As for the story, it’s more standard: another insecure main character who has to learn that he’s valued and all that. Only this one puts all his worth into his little balls. Then there’s this romance with his neighbor, a show dog who’s supposed to breed with another of her own kind even though she likes the scruffy mutt. And the purebred jerk antagonist, who’s such an idiot just so we see the protagonist in a better light—though honestly, the protagonist is just as much of an idiot.

I could at least say they put some effort into the romance, since they’re friends from the start and it shows they genuinely like each other. And by that I mean the show dog is just as perverted as he is.

The sex jokes at the beginning are dragged out way too long, to the point of being exhausting, at least for me. By the middle they add some other types of jokes, but yeah, if you’re sensitive like me or don’t enjoy that kind of humor, you won’t like the movie. On top of that, there’s all the toilet humor—pee and poop.

On the positive side, I have to say the movie wasn’t as predictable as I thought it would be. Some things you could see coming, but at least they threw in a little twist to change things up. The supporting cast is okay—the humanized dog, the one with weird fetishes, and the traumatized one, who was the only character I actually liked.

The part that genuinely made me laugh and caught my interest was when they go to the dog show, with all that stress and resentment in the air—because, yeah, those competitions are scary.

As for the protagonist, I hate him. He’s this horny idiot who spends his time humping anything he sees. Honestly, it’s 100% justified that his family wants to neuter him. On top of that, they keep dragging out the grandma joke, and he treats his friends like garbage just to feel superior. He’s a complete moron and doesn’t show even a shred of a soul until halfway through. He even tries to act like he only loves Honey, when he was willing to mount another dog that looked just like her.

The new Clouded Moon video got me thinking—Envoys might be the most useless rank in the entire universe. At least in the first book, the title feels meaningless. They basically do whatever they want, and what’s their main task? Sending out patrols.

The way they crafted the villain’s backstory—simple yet powerful—was masterful. It didn’t need to be overly dramatic; the tragedy and pain spoke for themselves.

And the way the entire story embodied fear, especially for a villain who wields it, was an inspired choice. The comic writers were truly onto something.

It’s a shame this never made it into the show.

I was curious about the story, but I just can’t find the right words to explain it.

The writing felt dull, relying too much on telling rather than showing. For example, the explanation of the character’s tragic backstory lacked depth—it was just handed to the reader instead of being woven into the narrative.

I also couldn’t connect with most of the relationships, like Wildfur and Spottedshadow. They constantly talk about how much they love each other, yet their bond never truly comes to life on the page.

As for the deaths, they were painfully predictable. Instead of feeling sad, I was just frustrated—it all felt like forced emotional manipulation rather than natural storytelling.

Their world is barely explained. Sure, it’s like Warriors but with different names, but if I knew nothing about Warriors, I wouldn’t feel invested in the story.

I shouldn’t have to pay for your Patreon just to understand the story you’re trying to sell me.

Tenelle, I love your artwork, but writing novels just isn’t your strong suit.

bias it was my first time watching something related to the story, but i like it so much the characters and setting.

all characters feel real, makes the world feel alive, and their societies are fun to read like an jungle book set in Africa.

I want ton see more about the wild dogs to be honest.

Man, i cant express how much i love Africa, I couldnt belive a story so beautifly written and drawn exist. And is on webtoon.

I had my doubts because many animal stories end up being ambicious but lacking.

Honestly, this review took me some time because I didn't know what to say. I read this comic several times, and while it is quite entertaining at first, much of the story would slip my mind by the time I finished it. Moreover, the plot starts to become awkward and tedious when the lionesses embark on their journey outside the pride.

The ironic part is that this is precisely the central theme of the story.

One aspect that particularly annoys me is the way the lions name other creatures with terms like “Pickers,” “Stripecoats,” “Cackler,” and “Thunderfoot.” These names, in addition to sounding excessively literal, break the immersion and hinder the reading. If it weren’t a visual medium, following the story would be even more difficult. Supposedly, they were inspired by Watership Down to create this kind of nomenclature, but the influence seems superficial. In Watership Down, rabbits would name unfamiliar things differently, and those terms were quite limited. They also used their own words for specific actions, like Silflay or Hrair.

In this case, the device makes no sense because in Watership Down, the rabbits called plants by their real names, as they depended on them for survival and therefore knew them well. Here, on the other hand, the lions use these absurd names to refer to prey that is a fundamental part of their diet and that they should recognize without any issue.

Only The Land Before Time is allowed to use such obvious names.

Additionally, as I mentioned before, these terms are extremely self-descriptive. At least Watership Down created its own language, while these lions simply speak English with forced, distinct names.

As for the characters, they are acceptable. They aren’t terrible, but they fall into overly basic stereotypes, which makes them indistinguishable within the xenofiction genre. Jasper is the most generic villain I’ve seen in this kind of story, and the same goes for Edge. They’re so flat that they don’t even inspire disdain.

Visually, I must say the art is fine; I like it, but I feel the artists lack experience in comic composition. Some panels are excessively large for insignificant scenes, which causes the story to drag unnecessarily. With better planning, certain moments could be resolved in two pages instead of wasting several more.

I also don’t know if the authors are unaware that hyenas aren’t canines, as they draw them like dogs with manes. I understand the stylization, but for heaven’s sake, they look like hunchbacked wild dogs.

This compositional issue contributes to the frustratingly slow pace of the story. I know that drawing a comic takes time and effort, and the authors probably can’t work on it full-time. However, after three years since its release, the progress is practically nonexistent.

Moving on to another point: the narrative is clumsy.

At one point, there’s a kingdom lions surrounded by a green, lush environment, which completely contrasts with the naturalistic setting the work seemed to present at the beginning. In reality, this lion, Diamond, adds nothing to the main plot and just steals time that could have been spent, I don’t know, on our protagonists finally reaching him, where we could actually get to know him. As the story progresses, by the time he joins the group, we’ll probably not even remember who he was unless there are chapters dedicated to him and his predictable “I want to see the world” story.

Exploring more about Edge would actually be more useful for the narrative.

As for the cosmology/mythology/religion—which, in theory, isn’t religion—I must say I neither remember nor paid much attention to the brief stories at the beginning of each chapter. They’re bland and hardly add anything, except perhaps the one about the hyenas. If they truly wanted to emulate Watership Down, they should have taken inspiration from Richard Adams’ prose, which succeeded in immersing the reader in his world with stories full of charisma and personality. It’s a shame that this aspect is overlooked in the adaptations.

It’s also confusing who they are referring to as the Great King. They speak of him as if he were a deity, but according to their posts on Tumblr, he’s not. And the Traveler is basically the Black Rabbit of Inlé, but without grace. Honestly, I forgot that this story aims to develop its own culture.

I wanted to buy the ebook, because used to watch Tenelles channel when i was a child and i love their art.

But i read a very detailed review that made me loose all hope i had for the proyect.

Honestly i was more interesting when it was a warriors fanfic.

Seriously how you end up being Ginga Nagaraboshi gin with cats, for the the post i thought would be a more character driven and social story. I havent expected this whole magic mess.

Now i want to read the book to know how weird it is.

I feel a little dissapointed.

Well, I don’t know if you knew this, but I’m a fan of animal stories. It’s a bit of a torture because they are hard to find in a mainstream way, things that aren’t classics or the Warrior Cats. Don’t even get me started if you’re looking for things in Spanish.

That’s why, back in the day, I was really excited when the YouTuber Tribbleofdoom released her own web series about lions, and I actually followed it faithfully around 2020. I enjoyed it, but watching it now, I recognize several of the issues it has.

However, I feel like most reviews focus too much on minor details and political ideas instead of the flaws in the story, so I decided to dedicate a review to it.

What was most insulting to me was the premise of the series, I mean, using lions to represent machismo, supposedly in a patriarchal society. What I’m going to say is that the series doesn’t portray this well. Yes, the lionesses, in theory, belong to the male and don’t have names until they prove their worth as hunters. But aside from that, the biggest obstacle they face is the fact that they can't hang out with other lionesses. In everything else, they do what they want, and nothing prevents them from leaving the pride if they don’t like the male. On the other hand, the males are kicked out as soon as they reach adulthood, forced to wander in what the series introduces as a cruel desert that barely has prey or water. The only way to have a better life is to take it from another male, as well as being forced to kill the cubs because if not, the lionesses refuse. After that, you just have to wait for another male to probably kill you or wander until you die.

According to the series, this system benefits the males, and no one other than Feather thinks this messes them up. All the attention goes to the sapphic relationship between Nothing and Hover.

Well, to be honest, I didn’t find their relationship toxic like most people complained about, just very rushed. They meet in episode 2, and by episode 3, they’re living together. I know this series is limited in many ways, but they should’ve thought about the pacing more if they knew they had limited time. The sin of the series is being too ambitious with the few resources it has, both in terms of time and animation.

I won’t judge the animation too harshly, since while the series had some financial collaboration and considerable views, I know it’s not enough to have fluid movements like Disney.

As for the drawing style, I do find it a bit ugly. Their snouts are so squished that they look like pugs or Persian cats. And the way they draw blood is a bit disgusting, especially since they exaggerate the amount. Yes, wild animals get terrible wounds, but they don’t spew tons of blood from a single injury. It tries to make the story more mature than it really is.