Netflix and Dreamwork’s new animated series, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, just might be the most adorable post-apocalyptic story you’ve ever seen. The protagonist is a chatty and energetic 13-year-old girl—and her best friend is gay.
Set 200 years in the future, the story revolves around young Kipo (voiced by Karen Fukuhara), who has been living with her family and other humans in an underground burrow. The surface of the earth is reserved for animals, who have been mutated by an apocalyptic disaster. When a disaster forces Kipo to the surface, she must band together with a group of humans and mutants to find her way back to her father. The aesthetic is more whimsical than scary, though (think Pokemon monsters rather than Walking Dead zombies).
At one point in Episode 6, Kipo summons her courage to tell her new best friend, Benson (voiced by Coy Stewart), that she likes him (with “like” clearly meaning more than just friends). He responds that he likes her as a friend, but, “I’m gay.” This is one of the few times an LGBTQ character on a children’s show has explicitly stated their identity, and it’s wonderful to see.
It’s technically a reveal, yes, since the viewers didn’t know this about him before—and there’s certainly an argument to be made that being LGBTQ should no longer have to be something that’s “revealed” as if it was previously a secret. Yet while we’ve seen some LGBTQ characters on television agonize over coming out before they finally do so, here we see Kipo doing all the agonizing as she worries about revealing her crush. Benson’s statement that he’s gay, in contrast, was not proceeded by any anxiety or stress. He states his identity as a fact, not the revelation of a secret, and that’s clear from his tone. Kipo is the one who revealed something she had been struggling to hide.
After Benson tells her, Kipo is embarrassed not to have read his signals correctly, but then quickly moves on to thank him for “being you” in a nice moment of acceptance.
Later on in the series, we see Benson express his gay identity in a way that I won’t spoil, except to say that it’s a hilarious take on queer rainbows. I’m glad the writers and producers aren’t reducing his gayness to the one coming out moment. Benson later even develops a crush himself, as you can see in this Instagram clip from series creator Rad Sechrist:
It’s not just the gay character that makes the show shine, however. The feisty Kipo, gorgeous artwork, multiracial characters and voice cast, humorous script, and great soundtrack—plus mutant creatures who show that being different can also mean being cute as heck—make this one for your family viewing list. Here’s the trailer: