Ren: The Girl with the Mark now has two seasons released on YouTube. Fully funded by their Patreon, the team has done a spectacular job of making a low-budget fantasy series ($35,000 a season) feel like a major studio project. In an age of overly expensive but underproduced and developed fantasy series’ (House of the Dragon, Rings of Power), Ren is a bright spot in the dark. Here is our review.

Ren: The Girl with the Mark

Ren features an incredibly talented cast who takes every moment of the limited screen time they have to suck the audience in and make them feel a part of the story. 

With a small budget, the ability for visual effects are limited. When necessary, the production pulls through. Nothing about the visual effects feels cartoonish, fake, or outdated. 

The costumes, props, and overall production design are 100% fantasy. At no point do you see something that throws you out of the magic of the story. 

Ren Review

The most important part, of course, is the story itself. With 10-12 minute episodes, the pacing and the writing has to be incredible, and it is. The first season does an amazing job of building tension, raising the stakes and telling a complete story in just an hour of total screen time. Season 2 might be a little jarring if you are coming straight from season 1 as our lead actress is, in fact different. The seasons were filmed nearly a decade apart, and therefore, audiences do have to suffer some continuity adjustments. From a story standpoint, season 2 continues the story seamlessly. It picks up right where the 5th episode of season 1 left off. We even get more time to explore the story in season 2 with slightly longer episodes. 

It is clear that this production team has a plan, and they know where they want to take this story. Hopefully they gain the following and the funds to realize their vision. Watch season 1 and check out season 2 now!