Belzebubs TV Series Premiere: Black Metal, Black Humor, and Beautiful Family Values
If you’re into metal music, you have to have heard about JP Ahonen by now, right? He’s the artist known for the extremely relatable and popular black metal webcomic, Belzebubs, which has been running for a decade.
Incidentally… never have I ever before been so uncertain as to where to put an article on my website. This is about a TV series based on a webcomic about a made-up band that is now also a real band, but is still a cartoon. Transmedia at it’s finest, right?
The comic was such a huge success that it spawned an award-winning 3D “Hexperience,” an innovative virtual experience where the cartoon band performed three songs from “Pantheon of the Nightside Gods” on a digitally designed stage that looked like it was set up in an ancient ruin.
Now, for the past 7 years, JP has paired up with Pyjama Films to turn the ever more and more popular webcomic series into a TV series. After the team put in 7 years of blood, sweat, and tears, it finally sees the light of day on September 24th, 2026, in Finland. However, the show premiered on September 22nd, 2026, during the Helsinki Film Festival, so we were able to watch a few select episodes, and I had the chance to have a quick live chat before the show with JP and Martti Manninen, the voice of Sløth. Since the IG live quality was questionable at best, among other reasons, I’ve now taken down the video and transcribed the audio, as well as a quick reaction to episodes I, IX, and XI of the show.
Martti Manninen, Bear Wiseman, JP Ahonen
The Interview
I’m here at the Helsinki Film Festival with JP Ahonen and Martti Manninen from the upcoming Belzebubs series. JP is the creator and Martti is the voice of Sløth, so we’re going to talk a little bit about the upcoming series, which is debuting on the 24th, I believe.
JP: Yeah, on Thursday.
In English and Finnish, I heard?
JP: Yeah, at Yle Areena. It’ll be appearing in sets of 3-4 episodes, depending on the week, but there are 13 episodes.
Incredible. It’s nice to see a return to the 22 minute episode.
JP: Yeah, 3 episodes per week, for a total of 66.6 minutes.
Martti: A random number.
JP: Very random, yeah, who would have thought. [laughter]
First of all, give us a little run down on the show, what’s it about, for people who don’t know Belzebubs?
JP: Belzebubs is a warmhearted family sitcom with a satanic twist, so it’s following a stay-at-home dad, Sløth, who’s trying to be a good husband, loving father, and still front his black metal band, which is not going too well. You know, push his dreams forward. Then there’s a bunch of other characters, so it’s not just a one-man show. Belzebubs started out as a self-therapy project/webcomic 10 years ago and now it’s evolved into this beast with music, animated music videos, and this animated series of 22 minute episodes.
How’d you [Martti] join the team as the voice of Sløth? How’d you get picked up for this role?
Martti: It’s a shorter story than his story, how this whole thing happened. [laughs] We’ve been talking that it’s been—for some people working on the show—a 7-year project. I got this message that hey, we would like to make a voice test for you for an upcoming show, so I went to the studio to do the voice test, and I was pitched, “It’s a warm-hearted family show about a Satanic couple doing this black metal band.” I was like, cool, cool. Well, I know what this is about, I’ve been reading the webcomic. Then they said it’s about a dad who’s trying to juggle doing art and family life, and I was like, “Yeah! Got it, I know what that’s about.” Then I got the part and I got to be on the show. It’s going to be an amazing show. It’s been an amazing show to do.
You’re a family man yourself, so you can probably relate a little bit to the character, as an artist and father.
Martti: I am, exactly.
What’s your favorite part about playing Sløth?
Martti: My favorite part… I think it’s the more somber parts of the show, because it is a funny show and there’s a lot to laugh about, but there are also some darker, more somber tones to the show, especially towards the end of the season. It’s really nice to do, because we spent a lot of time trying to find a balance of how to do the more somber parts. How to make it suddenly really down-to-earth—grounded.
JP: Yeah, and the animated series… well, you see it in the comics as well. There are laughs, there’s action, and then there’s proper hard-hitting drama. At least I hope that will resonate to viewers.
One of the things I love about this series is the wonderful portrayal of family life and couples who really love each other. I maybe talked about this in the last interview I did with you, which was forever ago at this point, but I love seeing these portrayals of people who are really happy together and they work together and they get through the struggles, and I think it’s really important that we see more of that in media, not just everything that’s going wrong [with the relationships].
JP: I agree. There’s a ton of stuff that goes wrong for the characters, but the core is still “together.” Like the band, the family, everyone strives for the common goals, supports one another, and I think that’s important. I feel there’s a sort of… parents or couples hating each other has a very ‘80s vibe, so none of that, please.
Absolutely. What about you, any thoughts on that front?
Martti: Yeah, same. I’ve never actually resonated with those stories. Like husbands hating wives, wives hating husbands. Every day is a choice of “do I want to spend the next day with this person,” and I think love is about doing that choice. Like, yeah, we will work this out together and then we’re stronger together.
I love that. So are we going to see any new characters in the show that we haven’t seen in the webcomic before?
JP: Yeah, there will be some side characters and then there are characters that we have seen, maybe in illustrations or vignettes, and the weekly webcomic that runs in Aamulehti, but those haven’t necessarily been translated online yet or haven’t been collected into the books I’ve published yet, so there will be new characters appearing.
Will we be getting any music? Presumably yes, but will it be new music that hasn’t been heard before, or mostly songs that have been released already?
JP: Mostly the season focuses on the band finding their missing link, so to say, and focusing on them coming up with the first album, which was released way back, and all that, but there are small snippets of our upcoming album as well, so small Easter eggs that people might appreciate once the album comes out, like, “OH! That was in the series.” Stuff like that.
That kind of steps into my next question, which is, where does the show start chronologically, compared to the comic?
JP: Pretty much from the same spot as the first book, so that the first episode is a bit of introducing the characters, the world, how it works, and their situations, and laying out the stakes and goals and all that. A bit of a spoiler, but not too big, but we see Lilith get infatuated with Sam, so it starts from that. Even though there are many steps—story beats—that happen the same way, or that we’ve already seen in the books, I think there’s so much more happening in the season and those little elements that hardcore fans, at least, already know, so it won’t spoil anything from the entire season.
Were there any moments in the show that surprised either of you, or particularly tickled you, without necessarily giving away too many spoilers? Were there any moments where you didn’t expect things to go that way or that were memorable?
Martti: I have to say, I’m used to doing voiceover work, so there’s usually an unwritten rule: no curse words, ever. I got to the studio and there were, like, two curse words in the first line I get, so I was like, “Really, I can use the B-word? I can use the P-word?” Cool, cool. So those. Then, how they’re portrayed. It’s not just cursing for the sake of cursing. It’s part of the show, part of the character, the language they speak. It was fun, it’s like doing something naughty. [laughter]
JP: Yeah, I have to emphasize that even though we talk abotu this warmhearted family sitcom, it’s not for the whole family. It’s an adult animation series, so ages 16-up, maybe?
Yeah, I saw a little video clip online that was showing some talk of the birds and the bees, and I was like, “Ahh, this is rather graphic.” [laughter] Yet, hey, maybe our sex education could handle being a tiny bit more graphic for the sake of education. [laughter]
JP: Oh yeah, schools could use that clip-
Martti: As-is.
JP: [laughs] Yeah, as-is, yeah, it’s perfect for that. It keeps going. You’ve only seen the first half of it. [laughter]
One of my biggest questions relates to, with the desire to have the show reach its very international audience, do you expect any backlash from the religious communities, or push-back, or…?
JP: Oh, for sure. I’d imagine so. But I’m equally fucked from both sides of the spectrum, I think. I think a lot of the black metal purists will hate the show as well. We’ve talked about this in other interviews, with the crew, that we’re fulfilling our personal Satanism through this, doing our own thing, focusing on that. So yeah, we’re not trying to lick anyone’s ass. So those who want to jump on board, welcome, but if you don’t like it, there’s plenty of other stuff you can listen to/watch/etc.
Martti: Also, whatever you do, whatever you create, you’re damned if you don’t, you’re damned if you do. There’s always one person who hates what you do, so you might as well do it.
That’s very true. Looks like we’re filling up here and you guys have to get going, so a couple quick things before we wrap this up: first of all, do you want to let people know where to watch and in what countries? We’ve already mentioned Yle in Finland. Where else can we see it?
JP: The show premieres on Yle in Finland through Yle Areena in Finland on Thursday, as I said, and through Linear TV starting the first of October. Then we have pre-sales into some other countries, so Spain—well, the Catalonian channel will start first—then we have Italy, Iceland, and Czechia. We hope to get it as global as possible, of course, because the majority of the Belzebubs fanbase at the moment is everywhere else than Finland. So let’s see. Fingers crossed, inverted, and ablaze, of course. [laughter]
Last question then, quickly: do you guys have anything else that you want to shout-out? Any other cool places where we can see you, any projects you’ve got coming out?
JP: Actually, now that we’re talking, if you are in Finland and interested in it, there’s a 4-part documentary called Pirullista Piirtoa that’s starting, I think the 28th of September, which basically… well, it’s a… what do you call it… seurantadokumentti…
Martti: Following documentary?
JP: Yeah, from about the past 7 years that I’ve been working on Belzebubs. What else has happened. So it’s an hour’s worth of material in total, so that might be interesting, I don’t know. Maybe not?
Martti: I think so! What he said.
How about you? Any plays or shows?
Martti: I want to shout out that, because I’m interested in it too.
Great! Well have an awesome evening, thanks for taking the time to talk to me, and we’re going to enjoy the show!
The Series
After the interview, there was about 40 minutes dedicated to greetings and bubbly, before the crowd made their way into the Amos Rex theater, where we had an introduction from the Helsinki Film Festival/Love & Anarchy folks, and then some introductions and thank-yous from the makers to the crew. I recognized a few names from the heavy metal scene: Noora Louhimo (ex-Battle Beast, voicing Skvllcraft) unfortunately wasn’t able to make it because she was sick, but I recognized Antti Hyyrynen (Stam1na, voicing Fuzzy the sound guy, amongst a few others), and Niilo Sevänen (Insomnium, and the voice of Sløth in the Belzebubs band) amongst the local metalheads attending the premiere.
As I mentioned, they chose a selection of episodes that they felt best represented the series: episodes I, IX, and XI. I dare not spoil anything, but suffice to say, the series does have some cartoon sex scenes, some genuinely gross moments, and made me laugh very heartily on multiple occasions (especially in episode XI, which involves some jokes around the Oulu region’s religious community that had me falling out of my seat). I feel like, in many ways, it has a lot of the love for the metal community that you might remember from (at least the first season of) Metalocalypse, but less staggeringly gross and more relatable than fantastical/supernatural. I’m all for there being more shows depicting the metal community in a very tongue-in-cheek way, and Belzebubs does that phenomenally. There are a lot of really small moments that add a metric ton of humor to already entertaining scenes.
As well, for those of us who’ve been following the series since its inception, it’s really cool to see some of the moments from the comic both come to life and get fleshed out a bit. Shout-out to the whole team, because the (Finnish) voice acting and animation crew were absolutely spectacular. Knowing as much Finnish as I do, too, I can say that the translation team have done a wonderful job with the material, which is no small thing considering how many wordplays and puns there are as a baseline in the series.
Worth noting, there was a very short interview with JP and Samppa Kukkonen (from Pyjama), as well as an audience Q&A after the show, but it was a bit odd because, for one, we couldn’t really understand what the interviewer was saying (yes, he was speaking English), including a part where it wasn’t clear if there was a question in there, and then the interviewer also took one of the three allotted audience questions for himself. Nevertheless, hearing the duo talk about the series was really interesting.
Personally, I can’t wait to see the rest of the show, so for those of you in Finland, tune in this evening! It’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun—emphasis on the HELL!
Art by JP Ahonen
Bear Wiseman is a semi-retired music journalist, once known for being the owner and head journalist of Musicalypse (2012-2023) and head journalist and editor of Tuonela Magazine (2020-2023).
Nowadays, she mostly writes slice of life fantasy fiction, though for artists dear to hear heart, she still does journalism. To stay up-to-date on her tales and coverage, consider joining her mailing list.
