BY COREY FLOYD
Okay
so I was in standby mode waiting for the next batch of Steven Universe
episodes. I needed something to secure that itch of childhood fantasy, and
think I found it. KIPO And The Age Of The Wonderbeasts. This is a new
series on Netflix produced by Dreamworks. I don’t wanna give away too much, but
this is a show that black households need right now especially for girls. Imma
try my best to not spoil this show whilst convincing you to sit down with the
fam and check this out.
Please bear with me…
The story takes place
somewhere in the future, and of course, things aren’t the best if you’re a human.
We learn that our character “Kipo” was separated from his father when their colony was attacked by a giant rabbit.
Did I lose you
already? Still there, cool!
There are three main
characters; Kipo, the show's namesake, Wolf, and Dave (sounds like they ran out
of cool names right?), and all three characters are Black; which is a HUGE plus
for me cause when it comes to fantasy and post-apocalyptic stories and shows we
tend to not exist or barely exist. I can’t
completely express how refreshing it is to see this level of diversity,
especially in animation. Also, the characters reflect different aspects of the adventurous
mind. Kipo is curious and wants to know more about this world. Wolf thinks
everything wants to kill you, and Dave is just in it for the fun. It’s nice to see three strangers become some type of family in this coming of age show.
The voices acting is
top-notch. Kipo is played by Karen Fukuhara. I had some serious doubts about
her career because she was handed a bad first gig. Remember Suicide Squad from
2016, well she was Katana. Since then, she’s done great work on Amazon Prime’s
show “The Boys” and her voice work on “She-Ra,” another Netflix original. Wolf
is played by Sydney Mikayla who has been working on other animated shows like “Craig
of the Creek” and “Loud House.” Dave is
Played by Comedian Deon Cole. I believe this is his first outing as a voice actor,
but he was almost unrecognizable in his portrayal. Kipo is a big step up from “Blackish
& Grownish.” You also have Sterling
K. Brown as Kipo’s father and he also has a wonderful singing voice. This show soundtrack has a variety of
entertaining music. Daniel Rojas has done some great scores for the show; awesome
songs that are at Steven Universe tier in my opinion. For a Ballad about a
legendary “lumberjack Cat” to a rap about astrology by wolf voice “The GZA”
from the Wu Tang Clan. This show is a
full package of family delight. If you are looking for a quality show to watch
with your peeps, or like I said earlier, you have aa Steven Universe itch that
needs to be scratched KIPO is where it’s at.
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