The main cast from left to right clockwise: Lu, Gus, Declan, Elodie, Barnaby, and Biba. Not pictured: Shella.
Lu & the Bally Bunch is a Irish-Canadian-American animated Slice of Life Preschool Show focusing on the adventures of Lu the ladybird and her five classmates; Barnaby, Declan, Gus, Elodie, and Biba as they navigate their new social life at Shell School. The series was originally announced in 2021 to air on the newly-established Cartoonito block in the U.S.
The series premiered in New Zealand in March 2023, and premiered in the U.K. on April 1st and in Canada on April 3rd on the same year. It is currently unknown if it will still premiere in the United States, due to the state of Cartoonito over there.
Lu and the Bally Bunch contains examples of:
- A Lizard Named "Liz":
- A snail named Shella.
- A bee named Barnaby.
- Birthday Episode: "Green Eyed Birthday Monster" is this for Biba.
- Broken Record: Half of the theme song is just the show's title repeated over and over.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: The episode "Cupcake Surprise" has Lu entrust Barnaby with the secret that Shella has brought personalized cupcakes for everyone to eat. Barnaby flubs it and ends up telling Biba, who tells Elodie, who tells Declan, who tells Gus as Lu overhears.
- Clip Show: The shorts are styled as these. Shella asks three or four members of the Bunch a question, and while answering it, they make Callbacks to an episode or two. A clip from the episode will then be shown.
- Companion Cube:
- Lu has her Dinosaur Tara, as well as Froggy and later, Big Sister Froggy.
- Biba has Squeaky Squid.
- Elodie has her toy celery that her mama gave to her.
- Declan has his Super Slug action figure.
- Curtains Match the Window: The bugs' eye colors match the color of their hair. If they have no hair, it's the dominant color of their clothes instead.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The theme song is sung by the Bally Bunch.
- Edutainment Show: The series aims to entertain while also teaching social-emotional lessons to kids.
- Everybody Cries: Lu, Gus, Biba (and later Declan) cry together over Lu's plant dying in 'Droopy Patrick'.
- Every Episode Ending: Every episode ends with a song. The type of song can vary, some songs teaching a lesson and others just being fun tunes with limited lyrics.
- Friendship Song: The song "Friends are Great" summarizes the joy of having friends.
- Gratuitous French: Elodie is fluent in French and will occasionally speak the language.
- Hypocrite: Lu gets mad at Barnaby for spilling a secret in 'Cupcake Surprise', but since she was the first one to know about the secret and she told Barnaby in the first place, it was technically her fault that the secret spread to the whole class.
- Infant Sibling Jealousy: "Play With Me" focuses on Biba becoming jealous of her baby brother Bo due to Lu wanting to play with him instead of her.
- Barnaby is ever so slightly jealous of his baby twin siblings because they get more attention than he does. Despite this he still loves them with all his heart.
- Never Say "Die": The episode, "Droopy Patrick" focuses on Lu's plant Patrick drooping and not responding to sunlight or water. This is Lu's first experience with death. While it is made clear that the plant is no longer alive, it is never explicitly said that is dead, either. Justified since this is a show for preschoolers.
- Patience Plot:
- The short, "Talking About Waiting" contains a scene where the bugs must wait for Shella to return with the "Patient Peas". Elodie struggles because she hates waiting and always gets bored while doing it.
- "When's My Turn" focuses on Lu and Declan having to wait while Elodie finishes her turn with a toy truck. Elodie ends up prolonging her turn on purpose to get more time with the truck. In the end, when Lu's turn finally comes, she ends it early because she wants to play with her friends instead.
- Picky Eater: Lu declines trying one of Declan's dad's "Wibble Blobs" due to Declan's description of them. By the time she finally agrees to try one, they're all gone.
- Pool Episode:
- “Lu’s Decision” focuses on Lu, Gus and Biba going to the pool, where Lu makes the decision to stay in the pool and miss out on smoothies.
- “Swim Class”: Lu, Elodie and Gus have a swim class. Declan attends too but he can’t work up the courage to go into the pool.
- Poor Communication Kills:
- In the episode "Tower Tower Wow" Declan introduces the titular game to Lu and Gus, but does not explain the rules, which involves building up a tower only to knock it down afterwards. Needless to day, Gus finds out the rules the hard way and he is not happy about them.
- At least two plot points focusing on Biba could have been prevented if she had just communicated with Lu and told her how she felt.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Happens in Copy Copy Caterpillar and Squeaky Squid, both courtesy of Lu:Lu: Copy! Copy! Caterpillar!Lu: Give! Me! The! Squid!
- Running Gag: Gus' tower being knocked down, for one reason or another.
- Sincerest Form of Flattery: A press release describes the show as being The Office for three-year-olds.
- Slice of Life: Despite focusing on anthropomorphic bugs, the series still focuses on the daily lives of realistic kids and their school.
- Theme Tune Roll Call: Hey! I'm Ladybird Lu! With Gus, Declan, Biba, Elodie, and Barnaby too!
- Title Theme Tune: Lu (ooh!) and the Bally Bunch!
- Treasure Hunt Episode:
- The episode "Find the Blueberries" has Lu and Biba form a treasure hunt where the main objective is to, well, find the blueberries.
- The episode called "Treasure Hunt."
- Unnamed Parent: Averted. Later episodes would add the name of the parents in the credits.
- Vague Age: Averted. Lu is explicitly three-and-a-half years old, Biba is four, and Elodie is almost 5.
- Vocal Dissonance: Despite being around grade-school or preteen age, Grace sounds like an older teenager or young adult. She sounds slightly younger during the songs though.
- Wham Episode: “Elodie’s Graduation.” Elodie graduates from Shell School and moves in to big school, shaking up the status quo.
- World of Funny Animals: The town of Ballybug is entirely populated by bugs.
