Ruby Gloom/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Ear Worm: Ruby Gloom theme
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Misery again.
  • Fridge Logic: How can Poe be descended from Edgar Allen Poe's pet budgie?
    • This is Poe we're talking about. He's an egotistical boaster.
      • But the fact that Poe was disappearing while Paco was stuck in the present proves that they really are related.
      • Alternate History world...
    • How can Skull Boy eat when he has no internal organs?
      • Nothing about Skull Boy makes sense, actually. How can he move if he has no muscles? How can he speak without vocal chords? How come his eyes stay in their sockets? Heck, now can he even blink without flesh?
      • Necrourgy (yes that is the proper word) which is mystical stuff that animates corpses.
    • How could Frank and Len each get the other a present without the other seeing?
      • Maybe they did it while the other was asleep?
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: For obvious reasons. Ruby Gloom is very popular in Japan. The show is also very popular in parts of Europe, especially Germany despite the depiction of two Germans in "Ubergloom"
  • Les Yay: I can't be the only person who sees shades of Romantic Two-Girl Friendship between Ruby and Iris, can I?
    • Ruby and Misery too. Case in point.
    • In the dancing sequence at the end of the first episode everyone else is dancing by themselves while Iris and Ruby are dancing together, make of that what you will.
    • And in the Ho Yay department, there's Frank and Len. Frank is not weirded out at all when a hypnotized Len tried to smother him in kisses, they both readily admit to loving each other, and Len has a tendency to turn into a housewife when wearing women's clothes. Ruby has also declared Scaredy and Boo Boo to be a "perfect pair".
      • Given the fact that Frank and Len have two heads and only one body, and presumably can both feel whatever happens to it... hey, figure it out.
  • Moe: Probably accounts for the show's popularity in Japan, along with Lolicon.
    • It also helps that Ruby herself is dubbed in Japanese by none other than Rie Kugimiya. Moe ensues indeed.
  • My Real Daddy: Most of the characters were created by illustrator Martin Hsu. And while his designs were excellent, it was the writers working for Nelvana who turned Gloomsville's residents into well-defined, fleshed-out characters. This is particularly true in the case of resident Ensemble Darkhorse Misery, whose story is defined more in-show but barely appears in any of Martin Hsu's work.
  • Needs More Love: This show was fantastically animated with gorgeous Gothic scenery, likeable characters, and excellent writing. Unfortunately, there were only two seasons and it has never been aired in the United States.
  • Periphery Demographic: The show was designed for children and pre-teens to tie in with its stationary line. Ins spite of this, it recieves a great deal of attention from teenage to young adult viewers and anime fans due to the gothic art style, cute characters, and sharp writing.
  • The Woobie: Misery
    • And Scaredy.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: In the episode "Tooth or Dare" the characters spend a portion of the first act wondering what the Tooth Fairy does with the teeth she collects, but when a tooth fairy arrives and stays over in their house they never ask her what they do with the teeth. It could have been funny if Misery was right about the tooth necklaces.
  • Ugly Cute: Iris
    • And her worm, Squig, and Misery, and Frank and Len, and Skullboy...