This New 100%-Rated Animated Series From Scavengers Reign Creators Is the Main Hidden Gem of 2025
You just can't afford to miss this one.
Common Side Effects is a series that perfectly blends a paranoid thriller with conspiracy theories and anti-capitalist satire, a philosophical drama about unity with nature and a comedy about a loser who saves the world.
Such a genre mix and a main plot about persecution is usually expected from a prestigious HBO series, not an animated show – especially from the creators of Scavengers Reign.
The previous project was the opposite of Common Side Effects: it was a coherent story, dialogue and exposition were sacrificed in favor of the boundless imagination of the animators, who, like patient documentarians, only observed the planet's bizarre flora and fauna.
What Is Common Side Effects About?
Eco-activist Marshall finds a blue mushroom in Peru that cures any disease and easily resurrects people. The man is immediately chased by unknown people, but Marshall manages to escape.
In the US, the man plans to grow mushrooms and save the lives of terminally ill people, but everyone is against his noble plans: pharmaceutical giants, the government, fellow mycologists.
Marshall goes on the run, desperately wasting the only batch of mushrooms he has and trusting only Frances, a school friend.
Common Side Effects Is a Wild Mix of Genres That Hooks You From the First Minute
The only thing that reminds us of the animated nature of Common Side Effects are the character models – caricatured faces and unnaturally large heads. And taking into account the choice of the protagonist, it becomes clear that the creators are pushing the absurdity of the situation to the maximum.
The solution is clear and explainable – how else can you talk about problems that have not been solved for decades? Obviously not with the help of heartbreaking stories about the survival of ordinary people – such plots no longer work.
In Common Side Effects there is no hopelessness, no cynicism and no sentimentality – Marshall never gives up and rushes towards his utopian dream of saving humanity, so the attempts of the elites and the villains to stop the hero cause more emotion than real news.
Common Side Effects Has Maintained Its Fast Pace During All Episodes
In the six episodes released, the creators have never slowed down the pace – the characters are constantly on the run, changing shelters and hiding from pursuit. On the one hand, this inspires admiration, on the other – it makes you nervous.
Sooner or later the writers will have to stop and let the characters rest for more than a few minutes.
If at this moment the series, running at full speed, does not stumble and gives the viewers at least some semblance of a convincing ending, then we can say with confidence: the success of Scavengers Reign was not accidental.