Kiana Khansmith built “Pretty Pretty Please I Don’t Want to Be a Magical Girl” as a portfolio piece. The 11-minute animatic passed 2 million views in its first week and kept climbing.
Kiana Khansmith has storyboarded for Disney.
Her credits include Big City Greens and Pokémon: Path to the Peak.
She also made an 11-minute animated pilot on her own that has drawn millions of views on YouTube, and it started as a portfolio project.
What is Pretty Pretty Please I Don’t Want to Be a Magical Girl?
A magical girl story about not wanting to be one.
Aika describes herself as a normal girl of average talent. She is starting her first day of high school and would like it to stay normal.
While she is talking with her new friend Zira in the cafeteria, a magical villain named Eclipse walks in. Zira tries to stand up to him, which forces Aika to reveal that she is Star Guardian, Guardian of the Stars.
Zira is thrilled. Aika is not.
Why did the pilot connect with people?
Traditional magical girl stories run on destiny and enthusiasm. This one runs on reluctance and frustration, and the absurdity of being chosen for something without ever agreeing to it.
Coverage has described it as being about burnout and the pressure of performing a role you never auditioned for.
It is also funny, which is not a small thing in a genre parody.
How many views does the pilot have?
More than 4.9 million.
The pilot animatic went up on Feb. 28, 2025. It passed 1.5 million views within days and cleared 2 million in its first week.
By mid-March 2025 it had reached 2.5 million. It has kept climbing since.
Polygon covered it days after release under a headline saying the writer desperately wanted more.
What did the creator say about the response?
She did not expect any of it.
“I didn’t think it’d go too far on YouTube as just an animatic,” Khansmith said after the pilot passed a million views.
She described being touched that so many people were interested enough to share it around, and said she was proud of the team who helped put it together.
What is an animatic?
Storyboards in motion, with voice acting and timing but without full animation.
Animatics are normally an internal production step, something a studio makes to test whether a sequence works before committing to animating it. They are not usually released publicly.
Khansmith’s pilot is fully voiced with a complete creative team behind it, which is why it reads as a finished piece rather than a work sample.
Where did the project come from?
It began in 2024 as an experiment.
Khansmith started with character sketches and simple movement studies, then built a short film to showcase her animation style and visual storytelling.
The influences show. She has cited Sailor Moon, and observers noted the early character designs carried hairstyles reminiscent of Ash Ketchum from her Pokémon work.
What started as a portfolio piece grew into a fully voiced production with a dedicated team.
Is there a second episode?
Khansmith has announced one.
She posted about a second episode on Tumblr, though no release date has been made public.
The pilot has a Wikipedia entry, which for an independently produced YouTube animatic is its own kind of milestone.
Artists working inside that system are building independent projects that find audiences without a network attached. Khansmith’s pilot reached millions of viewers with no studio, no marketing budget and no distribution deal.
The gap between what a studio short-form team produces and what one storyboard artist can make independently has narrowed considerably.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Animation Club School, the origin as a 2024 portfolio piece, the Sailor Moon and Pokémon influences and Khansmith’s professional credits
Wikipedia, the full plot synopsis, character names and release date
Emily Brundige, the 4.8 million view count and the indie animation context
Cartoon Base, Khansmith’s comments after passing one million views and the early view milestones
The Wonder of Anime, the first-week reception and comment volume
Polygon (March 2025), the initial critical coverage
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