Scavengers Reign Reviews - Metacritic (original) (raw)
SummaryA crew of a damaged interstellar freight ship are marooned on the strange but beautiful planet in the sci-fi animated series that expands on Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner's 2016 short Scavengers.
Season 1 Premiere:
Oct 19, 2023
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100% Positive
6 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
Nov 15, 2023
The further they go, the more the gorgeously animated world integrates them into its environment as they learn to adapt to their new home, setting the scene for one of the best science fiction shows ever made.
Oct 18, 2023
When its immense beauty comes rushing in at key moments, Scavengers Reign creates something as utterly spectacular as it is sublime. Through every delicately crafted detail, it proves to be one of the most exciting animated series in recent memory.
86% Positive
113 Ratings
5% Mixed
7 Ratings
9% Negative
12 Ratings
Jun 15, 2026
One of my favorite shows of all time. It’s a damn shame there isn’t a season two and I think about that fact daily
Aug 5, 2025
Modern art encapsulated. Perfect depiction of a truly alien world. Incredibly, vibrant artstyle with very, very moving scenes. Brilliant characters, with an absolutely, truly wonderful story.
Oct 18, 2023
So many alien worlds of similar films and shows feel dispiritingly limited in their imagination. Scavengers Reign, though, abounds with invention of the kind that only animation can bring to life. It has no illusions that its singular world is the real star, and what a star it is.
Nov 7, 2023
Scavengers Reign is brutal and violent but most frequently dreamlike and reserved in its dialogue, leaving a lot of room for the viewer to apply meaning to it. .... As long as Scavengers’s apparent list of influences is, its host of creatures and atmosphere are so bizarre that its identity feels wholly its own.
Oct 18, 2023
Expanded from short film to series, “Scavengers Reign” becomes less meditative and more of a gripping survival adventure; it also drags a bit in its last half. But the real attraction is less the plot than the immersive imagery and biological inventions.
Oct 27, 2023
While it won’t win any points for originality, its ambition, creativity, beauty, and slightly menacing tone will keep your attention, and its moments of “whoa!” deliver. You can tell from one episode that this is going to be a lot of people’s favorite animated series of the year, even if it’s unlikely to be mine.
Apr 25, 2025
Every once in a while you come across a show that alters your brain chemistry. This is one of them. Both terrifying and comforting, beautiful and horrifying, deeply existential, philosophical, and emotional. That beautifully haunting piano intro, the vivid world that is nightmarish and gorgeous. Like a Miyazaki on acid. It’s hard to explain the journey this series took me on. But it was a journey I needed to be on.
Nov 17, 2024
Overall I think this show is pretty much Avatar. Beautiful fauna and flora that just kinda exists without any apparent reason. The more you try to think about the plot, the more you realize there is none. Things just kinda happen and have no longlasting impact. There are some gore scenes, but our main characters never get hurt despite the combat scenes clearly showing they should be. Also the woman is talking to the robot like it's a person, giving it free time, asking if the robot is still upset... wtf? Honestly the more I know about the characters the more I hate them, except for the captain, that guy is fine. The fauna/flora acts as a magic, solving everything the writers need it to without any sense of laws or limitations.
Nov 23, 2023
Elegantly crafted, yet lacking substance. The animation pleasantly surprises—truly a visual delight with a vibrant and well-thought-out world. There's a noticeable strong influence from Miyazaki's animated films; some scenes are essentially reimagined from "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind." However, the originality present in the latter is missing here, replaced by a slightly different artistic **** absolute lack of logic in the plot is striking. The survivors have been on the surface of an unfamiliar planet for only a couple of months, yet somehow they know how to interact with the local flora, distinguishing what is edible and what is not. Imagine European cosmonauts thrown into the Amazon jungle with equally rich biodiversity—after a couple of months, if lucky, only a few might survive the fever and poisonous plants, not to mention potentially lethal animals defending their territory, driven by fear, self-defense, or seeing humans as potential ****'s another naive idea that the world poses no harm, and every creature is inherently good; you just need to understand and love them. It would be interesting to see how they would run from a bear, a pack of wolves, or an Amur tiger when hungry. Can't we portray a real world with genuinely dangerous animals, where encounters should be avoided? The agenda is the most disappointing aspect. Depicting all men as maniacs, weak, and characterless, while portraying black and LGBTQ women as the only intelligent and sensible characters, is overly stereotypical. The series literally lacks a single strong, normal male character. Moments like these reveal the best and worst qualities of humanity, with men driven to protect, build shelters, hunt, and **** agenda significantly influences the fate of the characters, although nature doesn't care about your skin color or **** the end, it's hard to believe that such brilliant animation and concept are marred by an overtly senseless **** plot and characters show little development. Essentially, the entire series is a journey through a beautiful and unusual world with adventures, yet there's a sense that it's like a modern art exhibition—very unconventional, attractive, sometimes stunning, but essentially empty and created only for the wow **** characters are superficial with a pretense of depth; we know nothing about them and won't learn— they simply play the role of good/bad or kind/evil. As usual, every character has a tragic past, a formula that is no longer compelling if someone close didn't die or if there wasn't an abusive father during **** the end, the series becomes another beautifully crafted yet meaningless "Foundation" or "Brave New World," where perfect shots and a splendid idea are realized in the early episodes, only to realize later that it's just an empty, beautiful cover. This seems to be a problem with many modern series.I recommend watching this animated film while enjoying its positives and overlooking the negatives. And if you want similar extraterrestrial fantasy in the animation genre, watch "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind." Yes, it lacks the computer graphics, but this 39-year-old film is much more thoughtful, original, devoid of agendas, very pure and sincere, and brings great pleasure during viewing.
Jan 2, 2025
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
Jun 26, 2024
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
Production Company:
- Green Street Pictures
- HBO Max
- Max
- Titmouse
Initial Release Date:Oct 19, 2023
Number of seasons:1 Season
Rating:TV-MA
Annie Awards
• 4 Nominations
Primetime Emmy Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations