A YouTube channel was a “big” inspiration for Scavengers Reign

Scavengers rule is an animated science fiction series like no other. While so many science fiction series flesh out the characters through bits and multiversal hijinks, Scavengers rule moves with gradual wildness, constantly pulling back to remind us that these characters are just a small speck in the larger, strange world of Vesta—a unique world they’re stuck in. The alien planet’s flora and fauna are simultaneously indifferent to their presence and pose a constant threat, always splashing, clumping, and growing around them with untamed abandon.

This cute and scary world, despite its uniqueness, is reminiscent of other works. As co-creator Joe Bennett explains to Polygon, the goal was always not to reflect those influences so much, but rather to let them create something strange and new.”[They] were almost kind of subconscious,” says Bennett. “You are influenced by it no matter what happens, so we try to make a conscious effort to [separate] — we have been drawing like this all our lives.”

Nevertheless, the names he mentions are a good starting point if you are looking forward to a season 2 of Scavengers rule and is eager for more of it. Here are some other works that Bennett says provide material for the look and feel of Scavengers rule.

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Hayao Miyazaki

Image: Studio Ghibli/GKIDS

It is no surprise that the GOAT, Hayao Miyazaki, is someone who Bennett says captured the spirit of Scavengers rule. The anime legend has long incorporated environmental themes into his work and, like some of the aliens on Vesta, isn’t always so positive about humanity. Miyazaki’s landscapes form the backdrop to his stories – changing and breathing with their own heartbeat, full of vibrant colors and whimsical details – and seem to be entirely in keeping with the feel of the series.

Nevertheless, it is the way Scavengers rule asks us to rethink our relationship with nature as something beyond a friend-or-foe duality, which seems most relevant to Miyazaki’s influence on the series. Films like Nausicaa or Princess Mononoke promote the same impulse that scavenger does so by asking the viewer to see themselves as only a small part of the larger ecosystem that surrounds them. —Zosha Millman

Moebius

Photo: Herve Bruhat/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

The works of French comic artist Jean Giraud are imaginative, expansive and often surreal. Scavengers rulehis fantastic worlds alternate between a high level of minute details and magnificently large images. If you don’t know his comics – like Blueberry, Moebius, or Artsakh — you may have encountered his work in other ways: He has contributed storyboards and concept designs for films such as extraterrestrial, TronAnd The fifth Element. Ridley Scott described him as an important influence on the look of Blade Runnerwhile Miyazaki (a good friend of Giraud) was sad that he Azrah Having already developed his own style, he could no longer use Giraud’s influence to further enrich his work. (Nevertheless, he adds:: “I still think that it conveys an incredible sense of space. I directed Nausicaa under Möbius’ influence.”) –CM

Satoshi Kon

Image: Madhouse

Kon, the late king of anime psychological thrillers, laid a foundation for artists seeking to combine the nearly limitless potential of animation with a hauntingly real and human thematic depth with his small but influential body of work. While all of his works are worth exploring (or revisiting!), the two that seem most relevant to him are Scavengers rule Are paprikaa bright and colorful work about the hunt for a dream terrorist who invades people’s subconscious while they sleep, and his only television series, Paranoia Agentthat follows the memetic horror that arises from a single act of violence. Both, like scavengerare profound explorations of what happens when delicate ecosystems are damaged by base human impulses, and the ways in which we continually distort the world around us into a grotesque reflection of ourselves. —Joshua Rivera

Masaaki Yuasa

Image: Netflix

Masaaki Yuasa’s extensive and varied body of work for film and television is as rich and imaginative as anyone else on this list, but his greatest influence comes in his limitless imagination of what the world of Vesta looks like. Scavengers rule certainly has more Regulate it adheres to that, but it shares a spirit of wild whimsy where each new creation is a misunderstood friend or the most terrifying thing you’ve ever met. Those looking to immerse themselves have two options: Those who resonate with the visual head trip of Scavengers rule should watch his early series Kaiba or The Tatami Galaxy, as well as his feature film debut, Thought experiment. However, if you want more of the more poignant emotional beats and memorably animated violence, try Devilman Crybaby (perhaps the most devastating show you can see) or the gloomy Japan sinks: 2020. —JR

René Laloux

Fantastic Planet is the kind of film that leaves a lasting impression on everyone who sees it. René Laloux’s cult magnum opus remains a magnet for lovers of weird and wonderful science fiction, introducing viewers to the strange planet Ygam and barely bothering to explain anything about it. One can see it reflected Scavengers rule‘s fixation on depicting Vesta’s food chain and the characters’ terrible ignorance of it. Both are key to one of the genre’s greatest charms: the horrifying but illuminating feeling that comes from reflecting on your smallness in the universe, and the hubris of believing that any of it should make sense to you. —JR

Primitive technology

Not all of the inspirations cited by Bennett are animated. In fact, what he describes as a “massive” influence came from the YouTube channel Primitive technologywhere John Plant builds tools and structures entirely from materials found in nature. (Plant has clarified that it’s a hobby, as he lives in Queensland in a modern home and eats modern food.) The procedural and ASMR nature of the channel is what appealed to Bennett the most.

“You see virtually every process he goes through – right up to the point where he builds a hut, for example, and then he gets to the point where he builds the house, he makes tiles. And so he grabs the mud and he shapes it. He has to build the shape, so he takes a piece of bamboo, opens it up and makes the wet mud. But then he says: I have to burn it. I’m going to build a furnace for that.”, says Barnett. “The process is crazy. When you finish watching it, it’s so satisfying; it feels really great.

“And you only hear the sounds of nature. There are no additional ingredients. It’s just so stripped down and simple.” —CM