Exclusive: Get a look at Art and Commentary for Orson James, Roman Calais, and Jor Ros’ Bad Influence, a Webtoon Original
HiHi Studios — the manga and anime-led studio co-founded by streaming icon Valkyrae and Range Media’s Kai Gayoso — has announced a partnership with start-up Otherly Productions, a next-generation studio reimagining how original franchises are created, launched, and scaled for today’s audiences. The first of their collaborations is Bad Influence, a high-energy, emotionally-raw sci-fi thriller set in a world of candy-colored lies, illustrated by the Barcelona-based artist Jor Ros and co-written by Orson James and Roman Calais. The first three episodes of Bad Influence are available as a Webtoon Original, with subsequent episodes dropping every Thursday. Readers have the option to unlock up to three additional episodes using Webtoon’s Fast Pass feature.
In Bad Influence, the city of Weisshorn is a surveillance city, where life is a never-ending parade–literally. Mascots smile from every screen, propaganda loops in cheery jingles, and the people are kept docile by distraction. At the center of it all is Oswald, a charismatic dictator with a showman’s flair and a deep need to control the story everyone lives inside.
The series follows the adventures of Nel — a hot-headed and haunted young woman, who isn’t buying the dream sold to the masses. Nel joins a rebel gang to take the system down. But the deeper she digs, the weirder it gets. She unearths glitches, ghosts, and truths that no one wants uncovered. Reality’s falling apart. And Nel might be next.
Check out the exclusive commentary and art below and check out Bad Influence now!
Here we’ve got our main character Nel coming face to face with some of Oswald’s mascots. They were inspired by 1940s cartoons, an amalgamation of early Disney and Hanna Barbera. The challenge was making them feel real and intimidating without crossing into full-on horror. Visually, we leaned into their cartoon roots, but when you cut them they bleed. They also know what they are, and that self-awareness makes them even weirder. Think Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but with way more menace.
