Musical Pipers: The Pied Piper - Review

Musical Pipers: The Pied Piper is a short, independent animated musical and webtoon comic created by the artist Rambu. The story surrounds two students practicing to reach their goal of being in the main cast for their graduation show, "The Pied Piper."

The story focuses on school life and growth, and changes the classic tale with a modern twist on dreams, friendship, and the powerful impact of music.

This self-published short animation was recommended to me, and I didn't have any idea what it would be like or what to think. After watching it, I found myself immersed in the story and surprised that a short film could capture so many emotions.

The story highlights the general issues of inclusivity within the creative industry extremely well, with a prominent example being mouse ears and other props used by humans instead of the actual Ratians. Musical Pipers: The Pied Piper addresses deeper meanings beyond the entertainment value, addressing a variety of different issues in today's society, such as inequality, institutional deceit, and the power of individual voice through art. The discrimination throughout this story has been well thought-out. It shows how people focus on appearance, skin colour, gender, and overall, the communities that they don't understand.

First Impressions

Musical Pipers: The Pied Piper is an eye-opening, beautifully animated musical capturing a variety of emotions in short snippets, but deep enough for you to really empathize with each of the main characters. The visual representation of such meaningful topics really plays with your heart and shows the deep value of loyalty through thick and thin.

I loved the idea of switching the roles of the Pied Piper and Dawson, highlighting the constructed nature of identity and exposing prejudiced expectations. I liked the theme of togetherness throughout the short, but in particular during the end show, and how both main characters stood together despite criticism.

I admired the strength Eugene showed throughout this short, despite being attacked physically and verbally, and found it inspiring.

Aesthetics

I found the art very vibrant, capturing the soft character designs and overall visual theme very well; it adds an interesting contrast to the powerful storyline. I think the idea of using bright colours to represent these issues helps create a more impactful, thought-provoking message. The characters are expressive, and the backgrounds are detailed. Using contrasted colours makes the theme much more engaging to the audience.

Sound Design

The short features a single song that reminded me heavily of some popular musicals. Listening to the lyrics closely highlighted the friendship not just between Dawson and the Pied Piper but Eugene and Wendy. The idea of seeing people as they are instead of what they are is perfectly summarized by the lyric: "I saw that your eyes weren't a monster's, just a girl's."

This was one of my favourite lyrics from the song, as it makes you realize the importance of seeing who a person is for yourself, instead of judging them based on speculation, hearsay, or rumor. Definitely a song to add to the playlist!

The voice acting was clear and concise; every word and movement flowed. The trio of voice actors present a captivating interpretation of the script, and the combination of a well-written plot with the high-quality acting really adds to the strength of the film.

Overall

Overall, I loved Musical Pipers: The Pied Piper for how it captured so many emotions like heartbreak, defiance, and harmony. Only being recommended this today, I wasn't sure what the story was about, and I am glad I took the time to watch it. I never knew how many emotions I could experience in a short period of time. Wendy's and Eugene's dynamic is brilliantly written.

I definitely recommend the Musical Pipers short animated film as well as the Webtoon, as a cute, stylized story that discusses important themes and inspires people from all backgrounds to push through adversity. I can't wait for more projects from the team, and I'm grateful for the recommendation. A beautiful story indeed.

If you want to watch this or read you can find it on the team's YouTube and Webtoon profiles. In addition to this, the team has created a spreadsheet of each member's socials for fans to support. We are looking forward to seeing what magical animations this team will make in the future.

Images: © Rambu