The title card
Obituary: A Grave Beginning
is an animated pilot created by the siblings Michael and Zara Barryte. It's about freshman teenager June Crocker, who lives in a mortuary, was raised by ghosts 10 years after the death of her parents, wants to start fitting in and has made a nerdy friend named Blatsy.
We have angsty orphan teen June, awkward nerd Blatsy, ghost girl Sandy, mean girl Lisa Rose with with the girls, Daisy and Violet who formed a clique called the Flowers because they are named after flowers.
In 2019, a Sequel in Another Medium was released in the form a webcomic series, which can be found here.
Tropes:
- All of the Other Reindeer: June Crocker. Everyone calls her "weird" or "weirdo" because she lives in a mortuary after the death of her parents and was raised by ghosts after that. She is an outcast along with Blatsy.
- All There in the Manual: The online website for this short gives way more details about the characters and the world beyond the pilot. For instance, some of the ghost characters in the pilot have names and bios on the website. The website even features characters that do not properly show up in the pilot.
- Big Bad: Lisa Rose, as she lets out an Evil Laugh at the end of the short.
- Coming of Age Story: At the beginning, 10 years ago, June's parents died, after which she was raised by ghosts. She goes to a high school and is mistaken for The Cemetery Girl.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: Lisa Rose writes a mean message with flowers on June's locker.
- Death by Origin Story: June's parents; their sudden death is what kicks off the plot.
- Expy: Blatsy looks like Chuckie Finster from Rugrats.
- Fog Feet: Most ghosts have white, genie-like tails.
- Girl Posse: The Flowers, a clique of girls who are named after flowers named Lisa Rose, Daisy, and Violet.
- High School: Trulish Gramplin High, a high school at Ludborrow County named after one of the ghosts.
- Homeschooled Kids: June. According to Lisa Rose, she only goes to a normal school.
- Invisible to Normals: Most people can't see ghosts because they are invisible and dead. June looks at the ghosts and the Flowers think June is seeing the whole classroom (with no ghosts). Sandy wants to look inside Lisa Rose's purse, June says Sandy's name in anger and Lisa Rose ironically thinks it's sandy blonde. As Lisa Rose trades June for her lip gloss, Sandy looks at the glitter blush case and June Crocker tells Lisa Rose instead of Sandy to put the lip gloss down to reject her gift.
- Killed Off for Real: June's parents are killed off at the start of the pilot when a satellite falls on top of them.
- Loners Are Freaks: June is that every kind. Every time she gets mistaken for "The Cemetery Girl", she is being made fun of.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Most ghosts look like humans but have a ghostly white glow, are transparent, and have white Fog Feet.
