|
Spoilers ahead!
This page partially or entirely consists of plot information relating to "My Student Spirit". View at your own risk!
|
Brief history[]
"My Student Spirit" (Russian: Дух моей общаги) was originally Leena Kilevaya's final year project and was created when she was studying 3D Animation at HSE Art and Design School, and at first wasn't planned to be an animated series from Phoenix Animation. However, after a series of circumstances, her project caught the attention of Fedor Nechitaylo. Fedor was interested in Leena's project and offered to act a producer for the series. So on June 6th, 2019, a trailer was released on the Russian Phoenix Animation channel, which was warmly received by the channel's audience. After that, they started actively working on bringing this series to life.
On June 27th, 2019, Leena graduated from university and took up a role as a producer at a Visual Design company in Moscow. In parallel with her new day job, Leena continued working on her passion project.
Synopsis[]
My student spirit is a slice-of-life mystery drama that takes place in Moscow, Russia and follows two students - Dmitry Bratsky and Elijah Douchnov - in very unusual circumstances. Elijah is a ghost of a straight-A student, tied to the dormitory, unable to move on, as "his" room keeps being offered to new students, one of which ends up being Dmitry Bratsky - a party-loving, ordinary Russian tough guy. He learns of Elijah's existence and, despite the clash of characters, they both have to work together to ensure Dmitry doesn't get expelled and Elijah finds peace.
Episode List[]
| № | Release date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 24th 2022 | You shall not pass |
| 2 | June 10th 2022 | Forever alone |
| 3 | January 9th 2023 | Shooting stars |
| Release date | Title |
|---|---|
| January 6th 2023 | New Episodes Trailer |
First Episode[]
My Student Spirit E 1
The first (pilot) episode of the series, in English.
Some time later, Leena has decided to leave her day job to pursue work on her passion project, "My student spirit', full-time. After that followed many weeks of hard work to release the first episode in Russian, which was released on March 13th, 2020. However, that date was less than optimal, not only for the animators but also for Leena and Fedor, as that left them with no time for additional edits, but they had to release it as scheduled.
Content warning: suicide, death
The episode opens up with Elijah falling down in slow motion, with Elijah's voiceover:
"When I was just 10 years old, mom took my sister and I to see a fortune teller. The old woman said I had an exceptional life line that crosses over the love line. I will live well into old age and die peacefully, surrounded by a big and loving family. Well… The old hag just scammed the hell out of us. They say your whole life flashes in front of your eyes in moments like this. But all I could think was… Did I turn the iron off?"
Dmitry is making his way out of a dorm party, with students trying to get him to stay longer. He enters the room number 213, which is "decorated" with caution tape and a sign "You shall not pass". Dmitry throws his bag on one of the beds, on which Elijah happens to be sleeping. Elijah tries to talk to Dmitry, telling him the room is occupied. Dmitry is reading a school book and has no idea Elijah is there. There is a formal letter of expulsion on Dmitry's desk, from which Elijah learns that his dorm room is now occupied by the infamous Dmitry 'The Kebab' Bratsky. Elijah shakes Dmitry's shoulders and, to his surprise, he feels it, which leads Elijah to believe that he is susceptible to the paranormal. Elijah spends the entire night trying to make Dmitry realize he is there.
Dmitry's letter of expulsion
In the morning, Dmitry takes another sip of one of many energy drinks, then suddenly clutches at his chest and falls to the ground. Elijah bursts out laughing, as Dmitry's spirit rises from his body and asks Elijah what's so funny. They both take a second to realize what has just happened. They both scream in terror and Dmitry panics, not knowing what to do. He asks Elijah for help, to which he takes a pen and jams it into Dmitry's throat. Dmitry is baffled and Elijah realizes that Dmitry didn't choke, but had a heart attack. Elijah proposes a plan to Dmitry, but he is unsure if he would approve, but Dmitry begs him to do whatever it takes to help him. Elijah then possesses Dmitry's body, walking it out the room, where Anthony happened to be nearby to call for help. For a moment, Elijah doesn't think Dmitry is going to make it, and, morbidly excited by the prospect of finally having some sort of company, starts talking Dmitry through where everything is located, mainly the shower rooms. Luckily for Dmitry, Anthony manages to get his heart beating again through CPR and he is alive once again. Elijah sadly says: "Anyway, as I was saying, I was fine on my own", as the scene ends.
Elijah is sleeping on his bed in the dorm room, as Dmitry angrily storms in and throws his bag at Elijah, telling him how now he has to retake the exam at a different date. Elijah is shocked by the fact that Dmitry can see still see him and asks if he is at all bothered by the fact that he is talking to a ghost, but Dmitry interrupts him by saying he had asked around and he knows that Elijah is the "nerdiest nerd in uni", but the only thing he cares about is passing his exams. Elijah tells him that he has an idea, and Dmitry is sceptical of the proposal. Elijah tells him his notebook has every lecture written out in it and that it might help him pass his exams. Dmitry scoffs and mocks Elijah, but ultimately takes the notebook with him and leaves the room. Elijah is left sitting on the bed, until he feels like he is being whisked away by an external force. Thinking he's being sent to hell, he screams in terror, only to find out he is now outside for the first time in years. He feels compelled to follow Dmitry and they make it all the way to campus together. Dmitry isn't looking where he's going and almost steps in front of a speeding car, when he is saved by Elijah.
Dmitry is angry at Elijah for following him, while Elijah tries to explain that he had been "drawn to him" and he had no choice. Dmitry tells him to leave him alone as he doesn't want to seem crazy in front of his classmates, to which Elijah responds with excitement - it's been so long since he's been to the university. Dmitry shushes him and they both walk in.
Dmitry walks into class, met by all his classmates who share his excitement about him making it out alive. The conversation quickly turns to them praising Anthony's bravery. Dmitry is overwhelmed by the mention of Anthony and instead tries to redirect the conversation back onto himself, by inviting everyone out for a drink after class, but he is immediately shut down. Dmitry sits down and puts the notebook on the desk, which catches the attention of the entire class. Everyone starts exclaiming about the special notebook, that has "every lecture written down in it, for three majors out of four, with teacher's comments and slip ups". The students start fighting over the notebook, with some of them ripping the pages to shreds. This hurts Elijah and he begs Dmitry to stop them. Eventually, the notebook gets airborne and lands on the projector, which stops the fight, right as the professor walks in. He tells everyone to take their seats. When the exam starts, Elijah notices that all the notes he had in his notebook are gone, replaced by a checklist, with one of the items reading "cheat at the exam". He starts to shout out the answers to the test for Dmitry, which causes the "cheat at the exam" item to be crossed out. After class, Dmitry thanks Elijah for helping him.
They walk down the corridor, talking about the notebook and how Elijah thought he was bound to the dorm room, but instead he is bound to the notebook, and that it's no longer useful for academic purposes, but it has a checklist that Elijah feels he must fulfil.
On December 21st, 2020, work on the English adaptation of the series has officially begun, lead by Wright Gottlen.
First episode (in English) was released on Phoenix Animation's YouTube channel on 24th of May 2022.
Second Episode[]
My Student Spirit E 2
The second episode of the series, in English.
Content warning: death mention, suicide mention, alcohol mention, domestic violence mention, suggestive language
The episode opens with a dream sequence of Dmitry on a lit up stage, holding a guitar. He is about to start performing, when he is interrupted by three Anthony's entering from side stage, as Dmitry backs off, trips over and falls off the stage, subsequently waking up in his bed. Elijah greets him and lets him know it is almost time to go to class. He remarks about how Dmitry never has breakfast, to which Dmitry reaches over to grab an energy drink from the fridge, but Elijah grabs it first and throws it away, reminding Dmitry of the accident in Episode 1. This angers Dmitry and they end up having a fight. Dmitry takes the notebook with him to go to class, against Elijah's wishes.
Dmitry and Elijah are on the metro train on the way to campus. Elijah is reminding Dmitry to revise before class, to which Dmitry responds by telling Elijah that his help is not needed and that he should leave him alone. Elijah is hurt by that statement and flies up to the train's roof. Dmitry starts to nod off and, eventually, falls asleep. Dmitry is woken up by an old woman, demanding he frees up his seat, before realizing he is about to miss his stop. Dmitry bolts out of the train, leaving the notebook (and Elijah) behind.
Dmitry is on campus. He buys an energy drink from a vending machine and livens up. He realizes that he doesn't have the notebook anymore. While he frantically looks for the notebook in his bag, he bumps into a group of his friends (in order of appearance) - Slava, July and Gogi. July reminds him of the booking they had for the rehearsal space and the group encourages him to skip class. Dmitry agrees, ignoring the fact that Elijah is missing, and they head out.
Elijah is thrown into a dark "lost and found" storage room. He is greeted by another ghost, Peeta, whom he mistakes for Grim Reaper, which causes him to scream. Hands wrap around his mouth and he is dragged away to the other side of the shelves by another ghost, Alexei Korolyov. Alexei tells Elijah that he shouldn't be "over there", unless he is "one of those" - meaning people who have died by taking their own lives. Peeta and Alexei proceed to fight, as Elijah backs away. He hears a voice coming from another part of the store room and comes to find a ghost of Baba Nyura. She reveals to Elijah that every ghost has their own color, depending on the way they died. Purple for accidental death, green for poison, grey for self-inflicted death and blue for murder. Elijah starts to have a panic attack and scene fades to black.
At the rehearsal space, July flirts with Slava, which causes Gogi and her to have an altercation. July makes suggestive jokes about Slava, to which Gogi grabs Slava by the collar and drags him outside to fight. Dmitry feels awkward in the situation and makes a passing joke about taking a break from rehearsing. July struggles to open a can of energy drink, and when Dmitry offers to help, she tells him that she doesn't need his help. She calls out to Gogi and leaves the room.
Back at the storage room, Elijaha has lost all hope of Dmitry coming back. He starts to question, out loud, who could have murdered him and why. Baba Nyura tries to comfort him, by saying that "she also thought people were good, but that was a mistake". Elijah asks what happened to Peeta and Alexei, and Baba Nyura reveals that Peeta had a row with his family and decided to try and take his own life, mostly to scare them, but he went too far - Peeta had jumped in front of a train that Alexei was driving. They are linked to one another. Elijah starts to probe Baba Nyura about her life, to which she starts to monologue:
"You know, sometimes you're thinking, it’s okay that everything is going wrong. Everyone lives like that. “Everyone suffers”, “everyone’s life is bad”, and “you aren’t better than the rest”… So you live your life like “it could be worse”, and you don’t notice that it could’ve been better, too. Johnny, my Johnny, he loved me, to the moon and back, he said! Gagarin had just flown, you know? And Johnny promised me he would “become a cosmonaut, and then, Nyura, we’re gonna start living!”.. And until then everything was as it was. I was sitting there, waiting for something… And it came. A wind of change. A silk curtain, my dad had brought it from Italy… a rarity. You know how well it burns? Oh, so well… And I was left alone. If anyone had cared about me, it could have been different."
Elijah reassures Nyura that she has value as a person. Suddenly, a bright light starts emitting from Nyura's spirit and she starts to ascend. Peeta and Alexei are critical of Nyura, and Elijah has to step in and tell them to stop fighting for once. Nyura floats up, transforming, until her spirit no longer resembles an old woman, but a teenager and then a child. She calls to the rest, telling them that "there is a way out" and that they need to "understand what they have to do to be set free", before disappearing completely.
They all voice what they think they should do, in order to be reborn. For Peeta, is to tell his mom he is sorry. For Alexei, it is to buy a dollhouse for his daughter. And for Elijah, to find the murderer. Elijah starts to make a powerful speech about working together to achieve their goals, but is cut short by Dmitry showing up at the "lost and found" bureau, looking for Elijah. Dmitry finds him and they leave together, leaving Alexei and Peeta behind.
Elijah tells Dmitry about Nyura's rebirth and how he thinks he can be reborn too, before asking Dmitry how his exam went. Dmitry stalls and, instead of answering, apologises to Elijah for being rude to him that morning. Elijah takes the opportunity to milk this moment to the fullest.
During the end credit scene, we can hear Elijah asking Dmitry why he didn't take the other two ghosts with him, to which he is met with confusion from Dmitry, as it turns out Dmitry cannot see any other spirits except for Elijah.
Third Episode[]
My Student Spirit - S1 E3 - Shooting stars
The third episode of the series, in English.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Production Notes[]
Work on the English adaptation of the series was started simultaneously with the first episode.
My Student Spirit — Trailer
The trailer.
On the 6th of January 2023, a trailer teasing new episodes has been released on the Phoenix Animation's YouTube channel.