Centaurworld

Synopsis

Centaurworld follows a warhorse who is transported from her embattled world to a strange and colorful land inhabited by vibrant, singing centaurs of all species, shapes, and sizes. The first season's story primarily revolves around a quest that the horse embarks on to recollect pieces of a rift key so that she can return home, receiving help from a herd of ragtag centaurs to find and commune with magical shamans guarding each piece. The season culminates when Horse, having opened the dimensional rift to return home, reunites with her human rider while also accidentally unleashing a great evil known as the Nowhere King. Afterwards the second season begins, revolving around the rider and horse respectively working in the two worlds to assemble armies so they could fight the Nowhere King's evergrowing horde of minotaurs.

Cast and characters

Main

Kimiko Glenn as Horse, a brave warhorse who is separated from her rider and ends up in the magical dimension called Centaurworld. Horse loses her armour and becomes more cartoonish due to exposure to Centaurworld's atmosphere, though this causes her to have access to magic.

Glenn's other voices include a "cataur" (cat centaur) named Madame Jelly who uses a cat piano in the sash competition, the "leaftaur" (leaf centaur) baby, and Horsatia, a wealthy horsetaur whom Horse masquerades as during her trip to the Horsetaur Kingdom.

Megan Hilty as Wammawink, a motherly alpaca centaur who lived in Centaur Valley before accompanying Horse on her journey. She is initially overprotective of her herd and occasionally goes too far in her protection, but deep down she believes her herd can work on their own.

Hilty's other voices include Shar (one of the Glitter Cats), the "leaftaur" mom, a "catfishtaur" (catfish centaur), occasional Moletaur backup singing, and the Killer Whaletaur.

Sophia Lewis voices Baby Wammawink.

Parvesh Cheena as Zulius, a flamboyant and effeminate zebra-like centaur who has the power to magically shapeshift his mane. Zulius also has the ability to slow down time to comment on the current events, which greatly injures everyone around him.

Cheena also occasionally performs as part of the Moletaur backup singers in songs they're in.

Chris Diamantopoulos as Ched, a cynical and belligerent finch-like centaur. He harbors a grudge against Horse, but eventually warms up to her. Additionally, he has a great fear of a creature he calls the "dentist", who allegedly had an affair with his mother during his childhood.

Diamantopoulos also voices the "hyenataur" (hyena centaur), Pawter, Zimples, Sean-Anemone, the Rutabagataurs (non-singing), Horsatio (Horsatia's husband), the Narwhaltaur, Moletaur backup in Holes: Part 3, the Leaftaur King, a "gophertaur" (gopher centaur), and Guskin.

Supporting

Renée Elise Goldsberry as Waterbaby, a hippopotamus-like centaur and one of the shamans in Centaurworld and mentor to Wammawink.

Goldsberry also voices the medic in "The Ballad of Becky Apples."

Tony Hale as Durpletoot, the voice given to Durpleton's flatulence after his wish is granted by the Tree Shamans. The flatulence's purpose is, presumably, to heal Durpleton's childhood trauma.

Hale also voices Tony Durpleton, Durpleton's father.

Carl Faruolo as Gebbrey, a paranoid and emotionally fragile ficus-taur on two legs. He is in constant search of his missing coat, as without it he suffers from extreme cold.

Faruolo also voices Barnus (a barnacle with a loud voice), a message bird, a worker man, and Henchman 1.

Lea Salonga as the Mysterious Woman, a human roaming Centaurworld with magical abilities.

First Aid Kit as The Tree Shamans, a pair of wish-granting tree-like centaurs who are two of Centaurworld's shamans. They grant the herd not specifically what they want, but what they need, and as such they turn Ched into a horse, make Durpleton's flatulence speak, and help Horse gain backstory magic.

Flula Borg as Comfortable Doug, a mole-like centaur. He normally does not help the herd and is submissive and often flat-out resents them, much to their displeasure. He often talks in a monotone and is quite submissive. According to Megan Dong, the creation of Comfortable Doug was inspired when a friend said he enjoyed the "comfortable visual style of the show Doug."

Borg also voices a message bird in "The Ballad of Becky Apples".

Paul F. Tompkins as Horse's tail. After Horse was affected by the magic of Centaurworld, it developed sentience and a penchant for wisecracking.

Production

The series was first announced in September 2019. Showrunner Megan Dong drew inspiration from her experiences joining choir in high school for the show's story as well as biology, which incentivized her to represent a large variety of animals as centaurs. The segments which take place in the show's titular location were primarily animated by Canadian studio Mercury Filmworks while segments in the human world were animated by Korean studio Red Dog Culture House.

Episodes

Music

Season 1

Note: The song "Everyday", from the episode "Johnny Teatime's Be Best Competition: A Quest for the Sash", does not appear on the album.

Release

Centaurworld was released on Netflix on July 30, 2021. A trailer debuted at the virtual Annecy International Animation Film Festival event in June 2021. A trailer and release date for the second season was posted on November 9, 2021.

Reception

The first season of Centaurworld holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 9/10.

Amanda Dyer of Common Sense Media gave the show four stars out of five, describing it as a "musical cartoon has magic, farts, and war-hardened horse." She also noted that the character designs are "ultra-quirky and silly magic," in the depth of the series' setting. Petrana Radulovic of Polygon reviewed the show in the first season say it was "feels off-balance, too light-hearted in the beginning and middle to be taken seriously in the end. But with interesting characters, deliberate and interesting uses of animation style, and engaging music, it's intriguing enough to leave audiences hoping for more."