Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts : Season 3
Might contain spoilers.
This was a sad season but a great one. Kipo’s world and its inhabitants remain just as compelling as ever. The finale was fitting, though, as with most animated shows I see these days, a tad rushed. The character arcs (like Greta’s and Zane’s) were all satisfying.
Hugo’s death was poignant and moving. What a journey he had, from his reign as the terrible ‘Scarlemagne’ to his gradual transformation into a cherished member of the Oak family once more and his well-written, well-performed, and certainly well-earned redemption, complete with the heartwarming ‘Hugo Oak’ plaque on his statue. On the other hand, I was very relieved that Dr. Emilia was never redeemed—never mind that it flew in the face of Kipo’s philosophy. The revelation that Emilia killed her own brother was shocking even in a story that has no qualms about incorporating death, bigotry, and mind control. It crossed all boundaries.
The way the show handles Benson and Troy is wonderful: slowly establishing and developing their relationship, culminating in their kiss at the ‘prahm’, without their queerness ever being the point. On a related note, when Kipo confessed to having dreamt of Wolf being by her side at said prahm, I wondered if they were going to become a couple too. I was a bit confused at first to see they remained just friends, because it was so unexpected to see two people—especially girls—love each other wholeheartedly yet platonically. I suppose I should have remembered that Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts forges its own path.
I must admit, part of me kept hoping until the very end that they would find a way to un-‘cure’ the people who had been ‘cured’, notably Yumyan, but the story’s permanent, irreversible consequences are what give its resolution weight. And speaking of the ending, while I didn’t much care for the design of the grown-up Kipo (nor her mega-Jaguar form), I was delighted by those final images of all of them as adults, still friends, jumping around and having a ball on (or as) all those megas.