Larva (TV series)

Larva (also known as Larvae) is a computer-animated television series made by TUBA Entertainment in Seoul, South Korea. This cartoon shows two larvae as its main characters. The first season was premiered on KBS 1TV, the second season was premiered on KBS 2TV, the third season was premiered on JEI TV, and the fourth season was premiered on Netflix.

Main

 * Yellow – is a dimwitted and happy-go-lucky yellow-colored larva with an antenna. Yellow is often abused by Red, but that never endangers their friendship. Although usually he obeys Red, he loses his mind in front of food. Yellow is bad with Red because he take all things that are for Red and Red always fights him. He changes color from yellow to brown and he grows green shades around his mouth when feeling extreme emotions.
 * Red – a mostly hot-tempered and greedy red-colored larva. Arrogant and often seen abusing Yellow, Red usually ends up hurting himself instead. He usually shouts like Bruce Lee when afraid or angered.

Recurring

 * Violet – an oversized ghost slug. He is sometimes shown with his lower half buried in the ground. When he is threatened, he exposes his whole body and roars, showing his sharp teeth.
 * Brown – a dung beetle that gathers poop. To him, poop is either his food or his treasure. He hates it when other insects touch his prized poop. He has a long strand of hair on his right cheek.
 * Black – a horned Atlas beetle that has great strength and is usually punching a cocoon (which he uses as punching bag). He's aggressive and will beat up whoever he thinks is messing with him. In "Black’s Back" he turns out to be a slug wearing beetle armor.
 * Rainbow – a snail with a red and green shell. When in his shell, he moves slowly, but under that he has a muscular human-like body and can function like humans do.
 * Pink – a pink larva with two antennae. She is the only recurring female character. She loves Yellow but Red loves her. She hides a great strength behind her cute, beautiful face.

Minor

 * Blue – housefly that has numerous smells. Nobody can get close because of his repugnant smell. He often feels gloomy and lonely because nobody can approach him.
 * Navy – in "One Wild and Rough World" part 1, this deep-sea fish appears when the sewerage is sunk. He appeared as a goldfish. When Red and Yellow threw him into a sardine can full of warm water, he changed into a deep-sea fish which is often seen whenever the sewer floods. He has a good enough appetite to eat up Red and Yellow.
 * Green – A carnivorous plant which eats up anything on the ground. In season 1, he is an enemy to all insects because he tries to swallow the other insects when he encounters them. But he is weaker than Violet. He appears to have a menacing set of teeth.
 * Frog – a frog which often appears in the sewer, is sensitive and tries to monopolise all power by eating the insects and larva. He is several times bigger than other normal frogs. He escaped from sewer and went into the house where Red and Yellow lived in a season 2 episode. In season 3 he lives in the sewers again.
 * Bee – a honey bee which collects honey. He stings when someone touches his honey that he collected or makes him angry.
 * Maroon – dachshund who wears a blue and yellow sweater, appearing in season 2. He attacks when he sees moving things. He buries his valued bones in the ground and is quite temperamental In "Whistle Fart" he turns into a werewolf when he hears certain whistling.
 * Prussian – a blue parrot which appears in season 2. He observes other friends and gives a sardonic laugh before attacking. He is also a predator to the larvae. "Nanta" revealed that he used to live in the Amazon rainforest as a hatchling.
 * Prism – a chameleon which appears intermittently in various areas of season 2, such as the living room, bathroom, rooftop, and even bedroom; he suddenly appears and attacks Red and Yellow without reason.
 * Ephemera – A mayfly who appears in the titular episode. Red has a crush on her, but she has a very short lifespan.
 * Bomb bug –  A bombardier beetle which bombed Yellow, Red and Brown in episode "Bomb Bug" in Season 2. He has ability to bomb a place with acid which comes out from his bottom. He usually does that when he's angry or sad.
 * Grey – a rat that appears in season 3. He is an enemy to all larva in this season.
 * Ivory – a stick insect that is weak and clumsy.
 * Cocoa - a hot girl (house cricket) that Ivory has a crush on.
 * Mite  - a baby mite who Yellow initially adopts, but turns out to parasitically prey on Yellow and the others.
 * Mud - a mudskipper. They live underground under the sands and can slap each other with their fins.
 * Booby - a Blue footed booby bird. He met the larvae when they landed on his island.
 * Mango - a larva Red has fallen in love with. When she first meets Red, she falls in love with him.
 * Chuck - a human. He is the first character who can speak.
 * Clara - a seal that Red and Yellow befriended. She is playful and charming and has the same name as Chuck's pendant
 * Blue - a whale who can only speak in season 5.

Production
Larva was launched by TUBA Entertainment in 2011, with adult viewers in mind. The producers aimed to create a cartoon that could appeal to an audience of a wide age scale. It debuted on the national channel, KBS and on cable television with short, 90-second episodes. The series quickly became popular, and as of September 2015 was sold to more than 40 countries, including Canal Plus in France, as well as merchandising contracts taking place in Taiwan, Germany, Turkey and Chile, among others. The creators earned 1 million dollars in royalties in the first three months of launching related merchandise, including toys and stationery products.

Reception
Emily Ashby from the organization Common Sense Media rated Larva three stars. She praised the show for showing the perspective of Red and Yellow, stating “because the characters are the size of worms, everything around them is larger than life, and that perspective is always fun to see in action.”

Although designated a children's show by Netflix, many parent reviews on Common Sense Media considered Larva to have too many adult themes, including frequent violence, sexual innuendo and drug references to be appropriate for children.