Supernatural Academy
Supernatural Academy is an American animated fantasy television series that premiered on Peacock on January 20, 2022. It is based on the book series created by Jaymin Eve. Premise. The show follows two girls, Mischa Jackson/Lebron, a 16-year-old girl living in the human world with her mom Lienda, and her twin sister Jessa Lebron, a popular girl and Wolf-Shifter living at Supernatural Academy with her father, the council leader Jonathon. Being split up at birth Mischa has no idea of the existence of her twin sister and the supernatural world, populated by Shifters, Magic -Users, Faeries, Trolls, Harpies, Vampires and Mermaids, and lives as a normal teenager in modern day New York City. Mischa keeps having visions of wolves, dragons and strange doors, which she keeps drawing in her notebook. Due to her suppressed powers awakening slowly her mother decides that they can no longer hide and protect her daughter in the human world, which forces her to reunite Mischa with her sister and father, and enroll her in Supernatural Academy too. Production. Development. The series was first announced to be in development in October 2019, with an original release target of fall of  2021. Allen Bohbot serves as the executive producer, while the series is directed by Steve Ball. The pilot was written by Gillian Horvath, who is also headwriter for the other episodes. Jody Prouse serves as the animation director. 41 Entertainment is involved with producing the series, and the animation was provided by ICON Creative Studio. The series premiered on January 20, 2022, with the first season consisting of 16 half-hour episodes. Cast. The voicecast includes Larissa Dias, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Cardi Wong, Vincent Tong, Ali J. Eisner and Bethany Brown, as the main characters. Additional characters are spoken by , among others, Alessandro Juliani, Barbara Kottmeier, Brian Drummond, Diana Kaarina, Kathleen Barr and Shannon Chan-Kent. Reception. Critical response. Polygon praised the show for its rich concept of having a magical school-setting, that is not just populated by human characters, but a variety of mythological creatures. They take issue with the show not really establishing who their intended audience is, with the animation being more catered to younger children, but the language and themes of the show being more suited for a young adult audience. They note the intriguing nature of the inner politics in the Supernatural and the  Human World, even if the pilot doesn't do the best job establishing the vast world the show is trying to build. Slant Magazine also notes as a positive aspect, that the show tries to grapple with social issues relevant for young adults of various backgrounds in today's society, especially the fear and prejudice that comes with being an outcast for superfluous reasons, but criticizes that the show deviates from its rich characters and their problems, to a generic race to save the world during the end of the first season. They give Supernatural Academy a 2 out of  4 stars rating. Common Sense Media gives the show 3 out of 5 stars, criticizing the jerky CGI animation, but praising the good pace of the show and well-rounded characters.