A world filled with beautiful bright colors, an addictive soundtrack, and a fantastic storyline to boot? Here’s why Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is a must watch!
Earlier this year, Netflix introduced us to the unique world of Kipo with the first of three seasons.
This series is adapted from the show creator Radford Sechrist’s 2015 webcomic Kipo. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, we meet the young Kipo Oak who in the first season is separated from her father, Lio, after being forced to escape from her burrow. She has to travel through the overgrown city of Las Vistas which is ruled by talking sapient animals to find him. On her way, she makes new friends Wolf, Benson, Dave, and Mandu. This is where the story begins.
There is a new objective every season and each one has an amazing lead up to the next. After a thorough rewatch, I can say without a doubt that it always got better and season three is by far my favorite.
The story allows you to explore the strange and energetic new world along with Kipo because she is just as new to it as the viewers.
Without spoiling much more, let me get into why I believe you should watch this.
First of all, it is visually pleasing. Not only is the art style distinctive and done with traditional hand-drawn animation, but the backgrounds of this show are also absolutely breathtaking. With the main colors being a wide variety of purple, the color palette does not stray away from its bright and luminous feel. You would think with just two main colors it would get boring but ironically, I just never got tired of looking at it. You get introduced to a new combination of hues and shades every episode and it gives the show a very special glow in my opinion. It makes Kipo what it is.
Next, is the soundtrack, which includes a lot of original songs composed by Daniel Rojas. It has a diverse mix of musical styles ranging from folk to electronic to k-pop. The original songs have a futuristic funk feel to them and are very enjoyable and not a single song feels out of place. I found myself shazaming more than half the songs used while watching because I couldn’t help but want to listen to them again.
Another reason to watch the show is the amazing representation it has. The main characters of the show are all African-American with Kipo being half African-American and half Korean. Benson, one of the main protagonists is canonically homosexual and even says “I’m gay” in the first season of the show and that fact about him is handled fabulously. What I love about it is that the show does not solely focus on their race or Benson’s sexuality. They made well written characters who just happened to be black and gay. It is representation done well which is sadly a bit rare for animated media. You will watch them grow and fall in love with their relatable qualities.
Finally, it’s well written and heartfelt. I enjoyed the fact that every character and detail has a reason for being there. They have roles and they play their parts and it made everything tie together fittingly. The foreshadowing done is never too obvious and is always done in a charming manner. It was perfect.
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is very vibrant and exciting. Although it is short, the story never feels rushed and it’s quite obvious that they put attention into every aspect of it to make the show feel complete. Kipo felt sincere up till the very end.
I hope you take the chance to give the series a try and end up appreciating it just as much as I do.
