ENA (series)

***ENA***, also formatted as ***ƎNA***, is a Peruvian avant-garde animated comedy series, created by Joel Guerra and published on YouTube and Newgrounds. The series combines 2D and 3D animation and draws inspiration from many pieces of surrealist media and worldwide culture, particularly from Peru and Japan. It is set in a strange, almost post-apocalyptic world populated by bizarre characters and creatures, with a surreal and comedic tone.

The series follows characters named Ena, with the current Enas having different appearances in each season. Other characters include the deuteragonists Moony (Season 1) and Froggy (Season 2), as well as minor characters like Robert and Brick Frog, who act as NPC-like characters in short interaction segments.

The episodes vary in their formatting. The first episode, *Auction Day*, is presented as an animated episode using dialogue and humor, with interactions between Ena and her friend Moony. Starting with *Extinction Party*, the episodes adopt a first-person computer game aesthetic from Ena's perspective. *Temptation Stairway* introduces many different locations within an episode, such as the Hourglass Meadow, and items that further progression into these locations, such as the Turrón. A trailer for *Dream BBQ* announced that it would be made into a playable first-person adventure game in addition to the usual animated episode.

## Listing

There are currently three episodes in the *ENA* series, with a fourth installment set to be released in 2023. Each episode, except for *Auction Day*, has had a teaser released before its release. *Dream BBQ*, which is being made into both a game and an episode, currently has a teaser and two trailers.

## Development

### Season 1

Ena's design was first revealed on February 23rd, 2020 on Joel Guerra's Twitter. The post showed Ena's design and explained that Joel wanted to create "characters with strange shapes in a very colorful world where nothing makes sense". Due to the positive reception, another image featuring Ena and Moony was posted, with plans to use the concept in the future. Ena's initial name, ƎNA, was later revealed. On May 2nd, more concept art featuring Ena and Moony was shown, along with the announcement of a short animation introducing them.

The first episode, *Auction Day*, was released on May 26th on YouTube, Newgrounds, and Twitter, marking the debut of the main characters Ena and Moony. A preview for another *ENA* episode was shown on Joel's Patreon on August 1st, but its title and public reveal weren't shown until seven days later when the teaser for *Extinction Party* was posted. On September 13th 2020, an announcement stated that *Extinction Party* would be released "next week" and would run for five minutes. Two days later, *Extinction Party* was released.

Throughout September, another *ENA* episode was mentioned and teased. The title *Temptation Stairway* first appeared on Joel's Patreon on October 9th, but the teaser for the episode was not released publicly until October 23rd. On November 20th, a preview for a new character was shown, revealed in the episode to be The Shepherd. It was also stated that the next episode was "the end and beginning of something", hinting at the future of the series. Some specifics about the episode were given, including that it would be fifteen minutes (later changed to seventeen minutes) in length and had three different musicians composing music for the project. On February 11th, 2021, a Tweet announced that *Temptation Stairway* was coming "[v]ery soon", and it was released four days later. Joel also thanked viewers on Twitter after *Temptation Stairway* made it to Trending on YouTube and encouraged viewers to support the talented people behind the episode.

## Trivia

* All of the Season 1 episodes have a letter pattern in their titles except for the newly released Power Of Potluck, with the first word ending in "-tion" and the second word ending in "y".
	+ It is unknown if this pattern will continue in Season 2 after *Dream BBQ*.
* None of the episodes feature recurring characters other than the protagonists and deuteragonists, and according to a tweet by Joel Guerra, it is unlikely that any minor characters will return in future episodes.
	+ However, types of characters that have appeared in large numbers in the series have made appearances in multiple episodes, such as the Hourglass Dogs appearing in both *Auction Day* and *Temptation Stairway*, and the Mannequins appearing in both *Temptation Stairway* and *Dream BBQ*.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1231746194780688384
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1238668626384871424
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1256671232088555528
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1305246469897760769
5. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1330001784446857216
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1347976182957015040
7. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1358252709703528449
8. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1353895669904400386
9. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1360047118652694528
10. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1361353883080142848
11. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1361873544477630465
12. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1362880727168278529