Sparkle On, Raven: The Life of DrillGirl

***Sparkle On, Raven: The Life of DrillGirl*** (also stylized as ***★☆SPARKLE ON RAVEN: The Life of DrillGirl☆★***) is an Canadian-American fanime series created by Production F.C., produced by the YouTube channel *these are videos, one two three* (*TaV123*), and directed by Robbydude. It first premiered on YouTube on October 12, 2022. The series tells the story of the part-time magical girl Raven, DrillGirl, Dark Shi and Berrycream Frosting, along with their friends, many of whom recently transferred to their school after an explosion incident.

The series is a loving homage to fanime like *Nyan~ Neko Sugar Girls* which were originally illustrated using Microsoft Paint. Characters are intentionally drawn with inconsistent proportions and art styles, as well as given wildly variable microphone quality.

## Premise

Raven, a high school senior has a split life of a student and a magical girl. Her best friends are her classmates, Berrycream Frosting and Dark Shi. This year, a school down the road blew up and its students had to transfer to her school, bringing many new faces to their lives with new potential friendships to form. Raven's biggest goal is to have the most perfect school year for herself. Unfortunately, someone with more sinister motives has her eyes on her, with the wish to ensure they get the best school experience instead.

## Cast and crew

### Voice talent

* **Starring:**
	+ verycloudberry as DrillGirl
	+ Dollip Daze as Raven
	+ Callie Creampuff as Berrycream Frosting
	+ Scratch as Dark Shi
	+ Justyn as Lord Albert Tensai
* **Additional voices:**
	+ KuuEater as Ryan Sasuke
	+ beefchunkz as Mr. Ryu
	+ Better SAM Software Automatic Mouth as Omen
	+ Mar Katoto as Strawberry
	+ Meeks as Chupachups
	+ theniftytable as Shinji Yuu
	+ Pea as Gibbons
	+ Scout as Slash
	+ BaileyVO as Gentlemen Broncos Blu-ray

### Artists

* **Directed and edited by:**
	+ Robbydude
	+ Scratch ("Half-House")
* **Illustrators:**
	+ Robbydude
	+ Dollip Daze
	+ sewerchick
	+ Callie Creampuff
	+ meeksnpoke
	+ beefchunkz
	+ pepperpow
	+ okidokidev
	+ Hobolegsmcgee
	+ Mar Katoto
	+ theniftytable
	+ BitesDev
	+ qwertibo
	+ cherrichus
	+ Justyn
	+ kimispice
	+ verycloudberry
	+ clown\_depot
	+ RenoBee/EGronk
	+ CHARLLAHAN

## Production

*Sparkle On, Raven* is placed in the realm of fanime, a genre of online video exclusive to YouTube wherein fans of anime created their own amateur productions on bundled drawing and editing software such as Microsoft Paint or Windows Movie Maker, with different quality between each line delivery and/or shot. Famous tropes are commonplace, and even exaggerated in such productions, and they are no stranger to *Sparkle On, Raven: The Life of DrillGirl*.

The artists behind the series - all friends who would later create Production F.C. - watched a slew of fanime (fan anime) shows together on the night of September 26/27, 2022, where they'd conceive the possibility of creating their own series like that. Robbydude cites *My Jungle Book Your Year* as one of the series that they watched during that get-together. Following the conception, the artists would brainstorm ideas for characters by sketching them in a collaborative virtual canvas. Bryan (verycloudberry) would conceive DrillGirl on a whim, pitching a "drill character who is actually just the protagonist" as a joke. They ended up voicing her. While the whole process was in good fun, it was also initially just a joke and the artists were racing to see who would take it the furthest. This all went on until the show's first episode was produced two weeks later.

While often legitimized as an indie production by the fans, the show's artists choose not to call themselves a "crew" but rather a group of friends having fun.

> We don't have jobs to offer [to prospective artists] and none of us get paid, it's just something we do [because] we like making things with each other.
>
> CHARLLAHAN, describing the show's dynamic

## Reception

*Sparkle On, Raven: The Life of DrillGirl* has received universal praise from its viewers for its humor and delivery, its post-ironic use of the medium of fanime, and its clever writing. deidremercer wrote about the show on Tumblr, saying that "there’s a pretty wide net of comedy stylings that the show casts without ever feeling like it doesn’t truly have its own identity". With comparisons to other productions of the same medium like *Nyan~ Neko Sugar Girls*, the series "seeks to not punch down at these works by amature artists and storytellers, but celebrate them". Viewers have found it embraces the early era of individually-produced web series, which would appear in early YouTube or NewGrounds, put together by people who are very in tune with the Internet. @FourTurtlez on Twitter calls it "Gay af" and "Number one anime of [2022]".

## Trivia

* Episodes are usually drawn on canvases with dimensions of 800x600 or 640x480 pixels.
* Raven's magical transformation is an homage to the "Moon Prism Power! Make Up!" sequence from season 1 of the 1992 *Sailor Moon* anime, using the music from the show's original Japanese run. Her wand transformation in episode 2 uses the Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune transformation music from the third season, *Sailor Moon S*, while Berrycream's transformation in episode 5 uses the Sailor Chibi Moon transformation theme from the *Sailor Moon S* movie.
* According to the showrunner Robbydude, every named character is a student unless clarified otherwise.
* While their exact ages aren't defined, all students are over 18 years old with no exception.
* An untold number of characters were conceived before the show was formed.

## Notes

1. ↑ The title is stylized inconsistently across all places where it is used. Other spellings used by the crew include: "Sparkle On Raven: The Life of DrillGirl", "Sparkle On, Raven!: The Life of DrillGirl" and "Sparkle On, Raven! The Life of DrillGirl".

## References

1. ↑ these are videos, one two three; UberTheMeh (October 12, 2023). ★☆SPARKLE ON RAVEN: The Life of DrillGirl☆★ KALAWACON 2023 PANEL. YouTube. Archived from the original on October 12, 2023. Retrieved on October 29, 2023. “I mean, *My Jungle Book Your Year* is [an inspiration] for me and Nifty personally.”
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Robbydude (October 28, 2023). tentacletherapist said: is it true that the character idea for drillgilrl was one youd had even before yall came with the idea for a show? I remember thinking "oh its that character idea he talked abt on stream one time" when seeing drillgirl for the...". Tumblr. Archived from the original on October 29, 2023. Retrieved on October 29, 2023.
3. ↑ Robbydude (October 26, 2023). theeepymagi said: You probably have gotten this ask before, but I can't find it so afaik you havent answered it:. Tumblr. Archived from the original on October 29, 2023. Retrieved on October 29, 2023.
4. ↑ deidremercer (February 10, 2023). A Formal Review of Sparkle On, Raven! The Life of Drillgirl. (Episodes 1-3). Tumblr.
5. ↑ @SapphBrightEyes (April 20, 2023). The pipeline from “oh what’s this project these streamers I like are doing” to “Sparkle On Raven is a time capsule of Newgrounds style animated content that only these people could’ve made and I adore it”.. Twitter.
6. ↑ @FourTurtlez (October 17, 2022). OFFICIAL review for sparkle on raven: the life of drillgirl. Number one anime of the year. Brilliant set up, excited to see development of plot. Gay af. Beautiful visuals & sound, feels like im there fr.. Twitter.

## External links

* *Sparkle On, Raven: The Life of DrillGirl* official discussion forum on Freakboards
* *Sparkle On, Raven: The Life of DrillGirl* on the Internet Movie Database