Vivain adapts in the face of adversity and tragedy, transforming herself. Classic Monsters from around the world expose groups rarley seen in animation: Healing soldiers, single parents, LGBT community, at risk children, unconventional families and the formation of self and living with your moon.

After the death of her grandma, Vivi moon is dropped into the care cycle and shuffled from one home to another. Each family unable to cope with a budding, angery, werewolf.  That is, until she meets her match in the form of Will Awae. New to the system Will is overwhelmed, underpaid and...human? 

There is no way a human can take care of her, so she sets out to to take care of herself. No easy feet when her new sister is a selfie taking selkie, who’s lost her seal skin and her way home.  Eight year old  Aven would rather take pictures of sticks and stones and can hear spirits but nothing else. And Vivi can never keep track of max, are they the dog outside? The little girl on the stoop? How’s a wolf supposed to baby-sit a shape shifter when she cant keep track of what form They’ll take next. With the full moon always hanging over her, threatening to let the beast inside loose she has her hands full. Will believes that children need a little order, but Vivi can order herself.   

Like Vivian, I spent a few years in foster care and then was adopted. My parents continued to foster kids and I started noticing a trend: Damaged control in favor of actually healing the damage. We all struggle with hiding our true nature out of fear, hiding that we have been changed. I believe that children need to see that pain can be great, but healing is possible and the road to healing is long, worth it, and we all travel that road together. You can’t change the past; it is a part of our history. To regret the moon over you just depletes the strength we need to be in the here, now. 

 

The series is meant to normalize the healing  and journey through trauma and mental illness. Through an Afro mythical world, fantisy and fables make it easier to open a conversation about issues we face everyday but as a people find it hard to talk about. 

Sasha, cyborg, Will’s best friend and the fist altered human Vivi’s ever met, has issues with a malfunctioning parts, thanks to the Salem wars, making it difficult to function.

Vivi tries to understand her own nature and the president against shapeshifters. Avenaily can only hear spirits and uses ASL. Laguna has lost her selkie skin and her way home. I love a metaphor! The world is made up of Afro mythical creatures familier and some not so familier mixed in with familier classic monsters like Dracula. I’m so excited to help spread the myths and cultural stories I never got to hear as a kid.

 

That’s Where Vivi was born, this quiet little monster didn’t just live inside of me, I see her in the eyes of my friends who were pushed through the system, my siblings and even strangers. There is a beast and without help it will consume.  

Her new family is just as vibrant and complex as she is and help her see she is not the only one with a moon hanging over them. What’s important is that Vivi, does not always win. She fails a lot. She loses a lot. Her life is tough but not bleak, her legs may get tired but she always gets back up again, even if she doesn’t want to. 

This series is about creating for yourself the life you want to lead. If you don’t have a family, make one. Vivi is the lead in her own story, a pound puppy of sorts (and clearly a POC) She dos not sit back and become the side character in someone else’s adventure. She is the creator of her own story and the maker of her own home. She learns to trust will and trust herself.