Loading ...
Welcome to yet another entry in my “I didn’t check this out until now but it’s intriguing so I thought I’d share even though I’m likely the last to know” files: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts.
It’s a Netflix series so it’s not necessarily targeted towards children, but after a couple of episodes I would say that’s the sort of vibe I’m getting. I don’t think kids are stupid, mind you, but they’re much more likely to roll with the idea that 200 years after an undefined end of civilization-as-we-know-it, buildings are crumbling away but the clothing and musical instruments in the stores they house are perfectly intact.
It might be explained later, I don’t know, only two episodes in so far… if it’s not, ah well, it’s still a lot of fun and obviously not meant to be taken overly seriously. The ruined cityscape the show takes place in definitely seems to have once been Los Angeles, but our titular Vault-Dweller… err, sorry, “Burrower” Kipo has been flushed unexpectedly from her underground home and must try to find her way back through a landscape of colorful mutants and even more colorful human remnants. Humans are scarce up top and it’s hinted there’s a sinister reason for that having to do with some of the more antagonistic and intelligent animals, like the Mod Frogs who wear immaculate suits and behave like mafiosos. Or at the conclusion of the last episode we watched, a gang of man-sized beavers in lumberjack garb. I remarked to Dawn at this point that it was like watching The Warriors crossed with Fallout crossed with Animal Farm, but skewed towards a pre-teen audience.
Anyhow, it’s nicely animated and hey, post-apocalypse fare for all ages is a rare enough thing to intrigue, although any oldsters like me that remember Thundarr the Barbarian airing on Saturday mornings knows it can exist. Plus, and I suppose this might be embarrassing to admit… I didn’t know it until I looked it up but Kipo is based on a webcomic of the same name by its creator, Radford Sechrist. Hopefully it ends up better in transition than Axe Cop did, but so far, so good.