
She chooses to talk to and get to know the extremely cute but loud Timber Cats and the very cool, rock n’ roll snakes. Kipo, on the other hand, takes a literal wrecking ball to above-ground norms, because, well, she doesn’t know what they are. Many characters do grapple with that instinct, including most of Kipo’s main friend group. In the face of danger, multiple unknown factors, and the real possibility of death, it’s not unusual to be cautious and take the safest options. The emotion of fear and how people deal with it is a central theme in the show for not only Kipo, but everybody. In contrast to the relative caution the Mutes and above-ground humans have, Kipo’s comparatively fearless. Shortly, happy-go-lucky Benson and his pal, a molting insect Mute named Dave, join Kipo’s journey, and she doesn’t bat an eye. She squeals over a cute Mute pig with four eyes (who becomes part of the main crew.) She chatters excitedly to Wolf, who is the first human she meets above ground. (Kipo, to be entirely accurate, is half Black and half Asian.) I mean, how many times have you seen that in a kid’s show, and for that matter, where said characters’ storylines don’t revolve around their race? Certainly, a place exists for stories that deal with the complicated stuff specifically related to one’s race, but it’s so refreshing to see stories where POC can just frolic and embark on imaginative adventures like other fantasy protagonists.Īnd boy does Kipo frolic excitedly in the above ground. Refreshingly, Kipo and the human members of her ragtag group are all Black kids. She sets off on a quest to find her dad and people, and on the way, forms a friend group and gets to know a lot of Mutes.

Most humans have taken refuge in underground bunkers, and Kipo, our protagonist, is a “bunker person.” The story begins with her mistakenly washed up above ground with no easy way to return home.
Animal protagonist post human apocalypse full#
The setting is dire but remains full of hope. ‘Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts’ infuses a post-apocalyptic landscape with giant, intelligent (and occasionally murderous) animals. CREATOR: DreamWorks Animation / Radford Schreist
