I’m ashamed to admit that this video flew under my radar last week, but it’s time to make up for that. Ciro Nieli and Brandon Auman have a habit of posting some pretty interesting behind-the-scenes footage on their social media pages. Sometimes these posts can even reveal information that won’t be shared with the general public for several months, so it’s definitely nice to get a sneak peek. That being said, it wouldn’t be fair to characterize this video as something you will definitely see in the animated series at some point. Instead, take it as read that this was just a fun little side project that Nieli and his team created for themselves and the fans.
With that out of the way, can we talk a little bit about Apritello? For those who haven’t been paying attention to this animated series, it might be surprising to learn that Donatello and April have had an on-again, off-again “thing” for each other. Of course, this being a show aimed at younger audiences, they never really pushed the concept too far. At best, we’ve seen Donny pining over April and getting rejected pretty much every time. Whether it be the fact that the censors most definitely would not allow this kind of relationship or the likelihood that parents might not want their kids watching such a show, there are several reasons that this “ship” has never fully developed.
Until now.
You see, now that we know the series is coming to an end, it would seem that the animators and creators behind Nickelodeon’s TMNT can finally play with the concept a little bit behind the scenes. One look at the video above will show you exactly what happened when Apritello officially became a thing in the studio. The reaction is priceless, and the results definitely made my jaw drop. If you were worried that we might never see what would happen between these two, now you can rest easy knowing that the team behind this cartoon has definitely explored the possibilities!
Say what you will, but this has definitely been a long time coming. Personally, I don’t think the world really needs to see this actually come to fruition – but I suppose it’s a possibility that we’ll see this either at the very end of the series or as a DVD extra at some point. Whatever happens, I’m glad Nieli decided to share this video with the world.
