History WebAnimation / AngelHare

The story follows a young man named Jonah, who one day walks into a thrift store and discovers an official VHS copy of an old children's show he used to love: ''Angel Hare'', a 6 episode [[ReligiousEdutainment Christian educational cartoon]] about the adventures of Francis the Badger and his friend Angel Gabby, the titular angelic hare.

Overcome by nostalgia and an old sense of comfort, he buys the tape, despite already having all the episodes of the original airing of the show recorded back home, and decides to watch it, but he immediately notices that something is ... off.

The show as presented on the tape is completely different from the one he remembers. Fortunately, he does have his own recording of the show to compare it to, so he starts uploading comparison videos of the two versions of the show onto Youtube.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vivaldi_gn3shzm8hp_6.png]]

* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: Case 2 ends with Jonah working with the characters to create a new Angel Hare series to help more children like him.]]

* RealThemeTune: The ending song of Case 1 is 80’s group Masquerade’s [[https://youtu.be/2A4ChoqhUkc?si=-w1bKK--qfjh-J1n "Guardian Angel."]]

The story follows a young man named Jonah, who one day walks into a thrift store and discovers an official VHS copy of an old childhood show he used to love: ''Angel Hare'', a 6 episode [[ReligiousEdutainment Christian educational cartoon]] about the adventures of Francis the Badger and his friend Angel Gabby, the titular angelic hare.

* EverybodyLives: There's a notable lack of violence in the show, so [[spoiler: and aside from HIM, who even then his off-screen fate is still unknown,]] nobody actually dies.

!! This show provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents: Jonah’s father. [[spoiler:It becomes clear by episode 2 that Angel Gabby was trying to the best of her ability to protect young Jonah from him and give Jonah the strength to endure the abuse. She might have even found some way to get rid of him.]]

* BenevolentAbomination: [[spoiler:It isn’t clear exactly what Angel Gabby actually is, but she’s a genuinely kind and sweet being who has Jonah’s best interests at heart. She’s also [[AdorableAbomination adorable]].]]

** Angel Gabby does this constantly, especially in Jonah’s recording of the show. While in the official VHS copy she only does it in the way most children’s show hosts do to address the kids watching at home, in Jonah’s copy, she addresses Jonah directly and even seems capable of seeing and hearing what’s going on on his side of the TV. [[spoiler:It appears she’s only capable of doing this when the show is being broadcast.]]

--->'''Gabby''': But remember, Francis, the real Sword of the Spirit isn't a weapon. Ephesians says it's the sharp wit and powerful depth of His word.
--->'''Francis''': (relieved) Oh, good. [[spoiler:(Gabby looks to the camera, before nervously looking to the side)]] I'm no good at fighting actual battles. Not with these little arms-
--->'''Gabby''': [[spoiler:(talking over Francis) Nod once if he's not coming back for awhile.]]

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Throughout the first arc, Francis seems to be simply a cartoon character with no agency of his own, never reacting to Gabby addressing Jonah. Even the fan mail shorts could be justified in-universe as being broadcast back when the show was airing (apart from the use of usernames instead of real names in many cases, or the question asking about Jonah himself). Then come the EasterEpisode, he starts painting ominous eggs that would never have flown with the show's target audience, and when [[spoiler: Zagzagel]] shows up, he finally goes completely off script like Gabby had before, even [[spoiler: responding to Jonah and noticing how much he's grown since the show was broadcast]].

* GuardianAngel: Gabby declares herself to be Jonah’s Guardian Angel at one point. How true this is is left up to interpretation.

* MamaBear: Angel Gabby grows increasingly protective of Jonah as the series goes on. [[spoiler:It's strongly implied she has something to do with the disappearance of Jonah’s abusive father. Though it’s never explained what she did or how.]]

* MindScrewdriver: [[spoiler:The {{WebVideo/MandelaCatalogue}}/Angel Hare [[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FAlVZoBY4Ow Gabriel alignment swap short]], of all things, does this for anyone uncertain about Season 1. It makes it clear that Gabriel's actions, while dark, had pure intentions, unlike her Mandela Catalogue counterpart, who would have gotten Jonah to do it all himself... ''and practice on a child.'']]

* SubvertedKidsShow: Played with. The version of the show on the VHS Jonah bought at the thrift store is a completely normal Christian themed children's show ala WesternAnimation/VeggieTales. The version he recorded on TV as a kid is much more surreal and unnerving, [[spoiler:but not in the way one would normally expect. The horror doesn’t come from the show itself, but from what it reveals about Jonah’s past.]]

-->[[spoiler:"He"]]
-->My mom and I
-->({{beat}})
-->[[spoiler:[[LaserGuidedAmnesia I'd forgotten]]]]
-->[[spoiler:We weren't always alone]]

-->[[spoiler:Zag: "I came to find her, genius. What are ''you'' doing?"]]

* ReligiousHorror: Subverted. While the series does occasionally give Gabby and Zag some unsettling moments, they're both genuinely benevolent, and while the existence of demons is alluded to, they never make an appearance. The only evils present in the series come from mundane humans.

* NostalgiaFilter: The deconstruction of this trope, as well as the necessities of moving on from past trauma, is one of the main themes of the series, as the first season [[spoiler:explores the good (from Angel Gabby) and the bad (from HIM) of Jonah's childhood, which makes him realize that his experience with the show wasn't as peachy as he remembered it to be]]. The second season has [[spoiler:Jonah realize that his need to see Gabby again had inadvertently put her in danger]].

* NostalgiaFilter: The deconstruction of this trope is one of the main themes of the series, as the first season [[spoiler:explores the good (from Angel Gabby) and the bad (from HIM) of Jonah's childhood, which makes him realize that his experience with the show wasn't as peachy as he remembered it to be]]. The second season has [[spoiler:Jonah realize that his need to see Gabby again had inadvertently put her in danger]].

* ShipTease: [[spoiler: Zag is implied to have a very close relationship with Gabby. He pushes aside Francis when the latter attempts to explain ''how'' close, but calls her '[[AffectionateNickname Gabs]]' and seems very distraught when he finds her again and in pain.]]

* RealismInducedHorror: What both seasons cover [[spoiler:and what sets it apart from most AnalogHorror in focus as the supernatural element is [[BenevolentAbomination sincerely benevolent]] against the main conflict of both; with the first season exploring [[AbusiveParents parental abuse]] and [[TraumaInducedAmnesia suppressed trauma]] in the form of what Jonah's father did to him, and the second concerning the [[EverythingIsOnline eldritch scale of the internet]] (and what it does to someone who tries to devote their time to [[IdentityBreakdown reaching out to communicate through it without help]]) and [[GuiltComplex self-doubt]].]]

''[[SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel When I'm in danger, visit my home.]]\\

* InSeriesNickname: [[spoiler: Angel Zag is nicknamed “Angel Zaggy” by Francis, which annoys the angel]].

* MamaBear: Angel Gabby grows increasingly protective of Jonah as the series goes on. [[spoiler:It’s strongly implied she has something to do with the disappearance of Jonah’s abusive father. Though it’s never explained what she did or how.]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: [[spoiler:Tape 5 implies that Gabby may or may not even be alive beyond Jonah's imagination at the time and current hallucinations, stimulated by watching other violent media, and that he was the one responsible for what happened to his own father. The letters segments, however, if taken as canon, imply that she is indeed magic. And then in Tape 6, Jonah films himself livestreaming the first episode of the show to see if he can talk to Angel Gabby again, and it works.]]
** [[spoiler:While Gabby is undeniably a supernatural entity, it's still deliberately left unclear if she truly is a servant of the Christian God, or if it's simply AFormYouAreComfortableWith for a Christian child like Jonah. However, later episodes (as well as the creators confirming their devout Christian faith) make it clear that Gabby really is a divine warrior of Christ.]]

* SubvertedKidsShow: Played with. The version of the show on the VHS Jonah bought at the thrift store is a completely normal Christian themed children’s show ala WesternAnimation/VeggieTales. The version he recorded on TV as a kid is much more surreal and unnerving, [[spoiler:but not in the way one would normally expect. The horror doesn’t come from the show itself, but from what it reveals about Jonah’s past.]]

* HardTruthAesop: [[spoiler:When Gabby finally loses her patience with Jonah's abusive father, she bluntly tells Jonah that it's fine to not forgive someone who genuinely doesn't deserve it and it'd come off like excusing their behaviors.]]