Travel Documents 70: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts
Creators: Radford Sechrist, Bill Wolkoff
Stars: Karen Fukuhara, Sydney Mikayla, Dee Bradley Baker
Genre: post-apocalyptic, noblebright, solarpunk, biopunk
The Dust Cover Copy
Making her way in a world of mutant animals, a sheltered yet scrappy girl learns to survive — and discovers her powers — with help from a ragtag crew.
The Scene
Worldbuilding
With a sweet, niave retro-90s vibe and giant bunnies that squish you to death by accident, it’s been a long time since I saw such hilariously endearing world-building. At some point around…um, now, *something* happens. Fast forward into the future, and you’ve got small resilient human societies rebuilding in underground cities called ‘burrows’. You’ve got some living on the surface too; the tough, the adventurous, and the dreamy.
You’ve also got mega-mutes: house-sized rabbits with tons of ears that can step on a building. Eight armed monkeys big as a house. And you have mutes in general; sentient cats with folk music. Sentient frogs that act like the mob. That’s just the beginning.
It’s a sweet, trippy Alice In Wonderland crossed with Jurassic Park fun.
The Crowd
Characterization
Oh these characters. Kipo is your true adorkable sweetheart, a ball of Pollyanna good vibes always ready to make a new friend of any shape or size. Wolf is her antethesis; the cynic who thinks she lives in a deadly dystopia, and is right a fair amount of the time. It’s all about how you look at it. And Benson? He’s found the sweet spot on between, just coasting through life easy with a scrounger’s eye and a dreamer’s heart. They make such a fun group. And the side characters are just as good.
The Lingo
Writing Style
Self-aware in their social commentary and just plain cute in the shenanigans, the show has cute, fun dialogue and a great grasp of interpersonal interactions.
The Moves
Plot
The plot works a thread of wistfulness and a lot of hope into the story-line, mixed into hilarious and amazing shenanigans. Every episode leaves you with a small, happy sigh.
Overall Rating
This is the story we need right now: the story that tells us yeah, it all might fall down. But that’s okay. If it does, we’ll figure it out.