I just heard the news about Captain Durag* and I’m honestly not surprised that the same company that canceled a show about a biracial girl fighting against a fascist colonizer went on to make a show using anti-Black troupes for it's protagonist. So instead of focusing on a mega corporation’s mega racism, how about I direct you to
Pretty Please I Don't Want To Be A Magical Girl (PPIDWTBAMG)
Starting off with PPIDWTBAMG because I love it. It's about a young girl named Aika who used to be a magical girl, she sealed away the evil and is trying to put her time as a magical girl behind her. She's trying to live a normal life and doesn't play into the magical girl shtick anymore. On her first day in school, she meets Zira, a nerd girl who is isolated from everyone else. Zira and Aika both think they're the coolest person the other knows, they get along very well and they're just so cute.
The creator is Kiana Khansmith. You probably recognize that name because she's the artist behind those Hanamusa (Ash's Mom/Jessie) comics. Kiana has talked about the fact that PPIDWTBAMG is entirely a passion project. She works on it in her free time so the episodes are coming out slowly but they're the average episode length and high quality.
There's a lot of big names, such as Anairis Quiñones (VA to Mirko from My Hero, Hinatsuru from Demon Slayer, Muko from DanDaDan, etc), Aleks Le (VA to Zenitsu from Demon Slayer, Jiji from DanDaDan, Mash from Mashle, etc), Christine Marie Cabanos (VA to Madoka from Madoka Magica, Shiemi Moriyama from Blue Exorcist, Mako from Kill La Kill, etc), and more who worked on this. They all brought their talent to this project and I love every second of it.
I'm also bringing up PPIDWTBAMG up because episode 2 recently came out and I'm not seeing a lot of people talk about it.
This is one I've mentioned before but bringing it again. I loved Me and My Genie when I first saw it. All the characters were great and I especially loved Rana.
The pilot is simple enough, this group of boys find a genie in a bottle and they all love her and she loves them. I think all the characters have good chemistry and it's really funny.
They've only been able to make one episode so far and I really thinks it started off very strong. With more support and attention, we'll probably get more. If you liked it, consider supporting the creators.
This is another I really liked and one I really wanted to recommend. It reminds me a lot of the early 2000s Cartoon Network cartoons. There's good messages for both young and old audience. In the pilot, you have the A-plot, where Zach is struggling to pass his math class and he's trying to avoid actually studying (he just like me fr fr). While Zach and Eddie are trying to help Zach pass, you have the B-plot.
While Zach's mom is working her job for Uber, she has a Black passenger and while talking, she accidentally says something racist to him and now she's worried and trying to do better.
Not gonna say much else to not spoil it but if that makes you interested, consider giving a watch.
It's very topical and relatable. I think it does a good job of balancing both plot going on while also providing a fun story. It really does remind me of things like Dexter's Lab and I highly recommend this one.
This is another that's only had one episode made but with more support and time, we're probably going to see more and I'd love to see more of Zach and Eddie. Once again, if you liked this, consider supporting the creators.
Now onto a live action indie show. I LOVE The Comic Shop. If you liked shows like Parks and Rec or The Office, then I'm sure you'd like this one. It's reminiscent of the old mockumentary serious and it takes place in a comic shop (Oh Em Gee Comics) which is a real comic shop (The Comic Den) owned a real comic shop own by the creator (Cheyenne Ewulu/Cheyenne the Geek).
Cheyenne has talked about The Comic Shop being important as she wants it to be Black, queer, woman-focused, and funny. As a full time blerd, I can say she did a great job at that. Cheyenne has even admitted to the character she plays, Stephanie, being heavily based off herself which makes this show feel all the more real. I'm also very fond of Black-oriented stories that aren't just about the struggles of being Black.
The show itself is about 4 employees who work at Oh Em Gee Comics working together to try and keep their comic shop afloat despite the many setbacks based on a lot of real comic shops deal with but our cast comes together in the end. There's six episodes and I love them all.
I also need more people to know what I'm referencing when I say this:
Transcript: a character, Keith, is talking to the camera and says "I got plans to be a pro-gamer. Kind of like Ninja but Black..." he gasps and excitedly says "Ni-" he is cut off by the intro before he can finish talking.
End of Transcript.
*For those who are wondering, yes that is Zeno Robinson (the VA to Hunter from The Owl House, Hawks from MHA, Jabber from Gachiakuta, Zenon Zogratis from Black Clover, etc)
If you like what you see, you can watch the show all available on YouTube. You can also support the Kickstarter. If you can't afford to give them money, remember to like, comment, share (even if you have no one to share to, just going into the share option and hitting the "copy link" button should help), and subscribe. It does help to boost them in the algorithm. It also does help to talk about it online. Make posts about it, tell your friends or family about it.
They’re on track to get a season 2 very soon and it would be nice to see more adventures from the cast.
You might know the name Joshua David King (JDK) from Cookie Run as they voice Cream Unicorn Cookie. JDK is a creator and who has made music and has even worked on The Comic Shop.
JDK also has a project called Project Super Crush. Project Super Crush is a queer coming of age story following Jay, a wannabe creative writer, falling for the quarterback, Christian, of his college's football team. On the other hand, as the quarterback of the football team, Christian is trying to help keep his team together and not the pressures of life overwhelm him.
It's both a novel and audio drama. You can find the novel on Gumroad and Amazon Kindle. You can also find the audio drama on Spotify and YouTube if you're interested.
*Also if you listen to the audio drama, once again, yes that is Zeno Robinson who does the voice of Christian.
Even though I've never seen it, I have seen people (even JDK) say that Project Super Crush is kinda like "Heated Rivalries but it's about football instead of hockey." So if you liked Heated Rivalries, coming of age stories, romances that take place in college, you'd probably like this too.
I'll also say, cozy stories like this definitely hit harder when you're Black because we don't really get this. There's not a lot of good coming of age romances that are feature Black people and Blackness in the forefront but Project Super Crush really does make me feel more comfortable. I love projecting onto Jay and fantasizing the idea on what I could've been doing back when I was 18.
If you’re interested in showing support to Project Super Crush, you can find merch of Jay and Christian on JDK’s shop, Pastelia Entertainment and get keychains of Jay and Christian. You can also support on JDK’s Gumroad page. I am aware that you can support through Amazon but Amazon sucks.
If you like anything above, then I say please consider looking into the people who helped to make them because you'll most likely fall down a rabbit hole of other Black indie creators.
*To those who don't understand how Captain Durag is racist, it's a show that's basically reduces the Black experience to just durags and household chores. It's 2026, there's no excuse for a mega corporation like Disney to do this. If you didn't know/needed me to tell you that, I'm glad I told you that.
While I have your attention, I'd love to share
Starting off with Thot Squad and if you've been following me for the past 3-ish months, you know I have serious brain worms for her. Her name might sound familiar to you because she did the voice of Prism from Dispatch. Dispatch features her songs Pound Cake and Hoes Depressed (it temporarily blinded me) which you may have already heard. In that case, I'm going to direct you to her other songs I love to loop nonstop being Abandon Him, That's My Hair, and BSTFU.
I love Phora and I don't talk about him enough. His songs are just very human. He sings with his heart on his sleeve and he always finds ways of just hitting me in the feels whenever I listen to any of his songs.
I recommend checking out his songs To The Moon, Stars In The Sky, Numb, and Sinner series.
Josh Johnson is one of my favorite comedians of all time. His bits are more than just comedy, he makes really good social commentary that always leaves me in laughing and introspective. He's a very nice guy too and his bits never fail to make me laugh.
I recommend his jokes Catfishing the KKK, The Calmest Chaos on Earth is Hawai‘i, and The Only Way To Survive A Recession
Recently discovered Ellie Velli and I really want to share his music. He's really underrated, his music videos are very high quality and as well just having a good vocals. I recommend his songs Vegas (Jersey Nights Acoustic), Erika (Visualizer), and Cadillac Darling
