We Rank the Five Shorts from Rooster Teeth’s “Anim Jam”
3) Human Beans
The first short of the week and clocking in at not even two minutes, Human Beans is not a very cerebral idea, but still one I do see a lot of potential in. In a world where beans are people (who can also work at stores that use their beans for drinks), Shawn Bean hopes to fulfill his dreams of being more than just another coffee bean in the pot. He tries quitting his job, going through multiple interviews, and trying a music career, but ultimately is roasted by the oddly CGI human crowd. Thankfully he’s encouraged to keep at it by a Lima(?) bean named Karen.
What instantly stands out to me about this is its unique aesthetic design, feeling sort of like a cross between “The Amazing World of Gumball” (with the 2D characters on 3D environments) and “Xavier: Renegade Angel” (with the CG humans who very much stand out). This odd medium comes together for a design choice that would provide many interesting things to look at in any given scene, even if the events going on are super mundane. And the goal of Shawn to make a name for himself in the human world as a bean has a lot of promise for establishing a clear cultural power dynamic that could be easy to follow. Shawn is clearly the underdog here, which makes him endearing for the audience and therefore makes it easy to care about how he tries to succeed, even if he doesn’t. Heck, even the pun on his name (like actor Sean Bean) has room for gags. There’s a lot to work with in this cup of joe, so hopefully they brew it right.
"There are also other characters that come and go (also owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery conglomerate media company)."
Huh. Is that just referring to other characters from the show itself, or is this implying that the new season is going to have cameos from other WBD IPs