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VERMIN (2018)

Writing this quick little post because I'm very excited to have found this series I thought I'd never have a chance to see again! I remember being in college and seeing an ad for it on my phone, and being so intrigued by the premise that I immediately downloaded the Blackpills app just to watch it.

VERMIN is a semi-obscure French animated series, released by Paris-based animation studio Bobbypills, who describe themselves on their Newgrounds site (wow) as: "full of depressive, beautiful, fucked up people making cartoons for depressive, beautiful, fucked up people."

The show is a Rick and Morty-esque satire on the buddy-cop genre, with a cast of bugs living in a city made of garbage. It's brutal, darkly funny, and a really fun concept that has some fantastic background jokes.

A young, naive praying mantis leaves his doting mother to follow in his late father's footsteps as a cop in the big city. He's assigned a boorish partner who wants nothing to do with him, and as he navigates his new life, he realizes not everything is as it seems.

Just to make sure I warn you: this show has gore, and some jokes that may be a bit shocking or edgy. Personally, I felt that these elements contributed to the characterization of the cops in the show, showing them to be legitimate corrupt scumbags. I don't think edginess is always something to dismiss or shy away from. Real life is horrific, and offensive, and disgusting sometimes. Here, the edginess helps to convey a certain tone, and how much of an outsider the mild-mannered main character is. There's also some bodily humor, which might not be for everyone.

I recommend watching it in the original French, with English subtitles (just because the English dub has some janky voice-acting that make the minimalistic animation style seem undercooked). You can watch the entire show for free on YouTube, here.