When you think of animation, your mind may go to characters like SpongeBob, Mickey Mouse, or even someone like Peter Griffin. The series that these characters come from are made by major animation studios. But did you know that there are individuals or small groups of people creating animated series as well? That’s where indie animation comes in.

Basically, indie animation refers to animated series that are not created by major animation studios. Most of these series are watchable for free on YouTube, although some have made it to streaming services. Indie animated shows are also mostly driven towards older audiences.

In the past few weeks, it has been announced that the final episode of “The Amazing Digital Circus”, titled “The Last Act”, will premiere in movie theaters worldwide. Created by YouTube user Gooseworx with the Australia-based studio Glitch Productions, the show revolves around five people – Pomni, Jax, Gangle, Zooble, and Kinger – trapped in a wacky virtual circus headed by Caine, the AI ringmaster. He’s the one that puts them in adventures and tries to prevent them from escaping, if there even is a way to escape.

It’s no surprise that The Amazing Digital Circus is popular. When the show’s pilot premiered in October 2023, it quickly became the most viewed animation pilot on YouTube. As of the time of writing this, it has over 428 million views. The show has been dubbed in over 15 languages and has large fan bases around the world. You’ll also see quite a bit of merchandise in stores and online.

The Amazing Digital Circus isn’t the only indie animated series around. It isn’t even the first one to come to theaters – that goes to the web series “Battle for Dream Island”, which had its first U.S. theater premiere in October 2025 (shout out to my friends who watch it). Glitch Productions has produced other animated shows like “Murder Drones”, “The Gaslight District”, and “Knights of Guinevere”, which have gotten lots of views on YouTube. There are tons of indie animated shows available on YouTube, so I’d recommend you look around there and you’ll potentially find something you like.

Now you know that animated shows aren’t just created by big studios. You can find success by creating something with a smaller, not as well known team of people. And I think that’s pretty neat. I highly recommend that you watch these shows to support the teams working on them as they develop their stories and characters because they need that support to stay afloat.

So yeah, watch them! And maybe buy some merch if you really like it.