Let the battle begin!
Urbance is a currently-in-production TV project produced by Canadian-American animation company Steambot Studios, which has worked in the past designing major productions with Disney, Sony, and Universal Studios. It was created and will be written and directed by Joel Dos Reis Viegas.Set in a big city, a genetic disease causes all sexual, and by extension romantic, relationships to be banned. Boys and girls are separated into different sections of the city, kept apart by blue-skinned, androgynous giants known as Mediators. Growing up hating each other, the two genders form rival gangs. However, things heat up when Lesya (of the gang The Deadly Eves) and Kenzell (The Neo Blasterz) end up falling in forbidden love.
Already gaining attention for the way its flashy, colorful urban setting and the trailer's high quality animation, Urbance has a 3-minute pilot released to the general public on the Steambot website
. Click here for the official website that contains character and backstory information.
The kickstarter has been open for donations since September 23rd and is ending November 6th.
Examples:
- Action Girl: Amy.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: The Mediators.
- Chained by Fashion: Sam has one around her neck. She's seen in the trailer lifting it up as a "go hang yourself" taunt to the Neo Blasterz.
- Cliffhanger: The pilot ends with a mediator launching themselves at Kenzall to attack him. Since the pilot never became a series, we'll likely never know what happens next.
- Does Not Like Men: Amy, considering her choice of clothing. A cap with a slash sign over a male figure. A orange jacket that has N and M on each side, clearly meaning "No men", and the back of it says "Hate all boys".
- Dystopia: A genetic disease causes death after sexual contact and it's stated that it may have wiped out most of the human race. Males and females are separated into different sections of the city by blue agents of unknown origins. Then both genders grew up hating each other and started rival gangs. Did we mention the part about no sex?
- Fantastic Drug: Dorphin. A drink that causes the recipient to seemingly experience sex without actually having it.
- Free-Love Future: Inverted. Due to a virus that instant kills during sex, heterosexual sex was banned until homosexual sex was also banned to, which then became outright separating males and females from each other and letting both sexes come to hate each other to lessen the occurrence of sexual contact. Homosexual making-out is okay, though. Heterosexual making-out is illegal by principle of breaking the law about separating the sexes.
- Generic Graffiti: The bathroom stalls in the club are peppered with all manner of graffiti, none of which seems to have major relevance to upcoming plot elements. The Graffiti, however, is incredibly well drawn and compliments the urban aesthetic of the setting.
- In Da Club: The pilot begins by showing us young people partying in a club which provides a way to temporarily block tracking devices attached to their wrists. The bouncers who search people for weapons take pleasure in being able to also examine other, ahem, physical aspects of the people they search.
- Out with a Bang: Shown quite explicitly in the pilot, as it's the premise of the series. Two young people who think they've found a prophylatic against the "E1 virus" die during sex.
- Perpetual Smiler: For whatever reason, the Mediators usually wear have a sinister smirk.
- Speculative Fiction LGBT: Due to a virus killing anyone who has heterosexual sex, being gay or asexual is the norm.
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Spiritual Successor: Potentially to Motorcity or Jet Set Radio, which the former was canceled around the time word about this show got out and Word of God says the later has inspired the design of the show. - Slasher Smile: The end of the pilot has a Mediator shooting an insane grin at Kenzell while charging at him.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Kenzell and Lesya.
- In a bigger, Men and women are separated by the Mediators to invoke the "Star crossed" part of this trope. Specifically to keep sex from happening.
- Technicolor Eyes: Most characters in this setting don't have normal eye color (Kenzell has purple eyes, Amy has cyan, etc.).
