Media One Kids & Family, which made a splash at Cannes, premiered its animated preschool series “Key & Hai of the Panda Kingdom” for the world premiere at Mip Junior on Saturday, earning warm applause from industry attendees who packed the Debussy Theater.
Based on the best-selling comic by popular French YouTuber Kevin Tran (who also serves as co-producer and showrunner), the “52×11” title follows the daily adventures of 10-year-old Ki and his boisterous 6-year-old brother Hii. The pair bicker and bond through the whimsical Panda Kingdom, a vibrant world where the ordinary and extraordinary blend together, where animals and humans alike are simultaneously magical and co-existing.
The carefully chosen ages of the characters reflect the show’s target demographic, what Catel France, general manager and CCO of Media One Kids & Family, calls the “safety net.”
“There’s still some real strength left in that age group,” France told Variety. “Even if things slow down a bit, this market is still a reliable market. These are kids who are deeply attached to anime, but aren’t ready to leave comics and go live-action yet.”
“We wrote this series for kids as young as seven or eight years old,” she continues. “That’s the age when they start primary school, when they start to develop a sense of individuality, take on a little more responsibility, start working through small rivalries and conflicts. This show reflects the daily lives of children aged 6 to 10, school, home, family, sports, all of that.”
Of course, this project also speaks to the enormous global influence of anime and manga, and the industry-wide movement to develop and produce such content closer to home. Titles such as “Panda Kingdom Key & Hai” and the Paris-set “My Life Is a Manga,” currently in production with support from 11 European public broadcasters, mark the rise of the so-called European anime movement, which blends the dynamic visual style and character design of Japanese originals with a storytelling sensibility tailored to Western audiences.
“Kevin’s world is a mixture of reality and everyday life mixed with the imaginary,” says France. “That gives the series a quirky quality not often seen in Japanese manga, which tend to be either completely fantastical or completely realistic.”
With nearly 6 million YouTube subscribers and more than 1 million books sold, Tran’s success and notoriety paved the way for early commissions from France’s Canal Plus and Belgium’s RTBF. However, Media One is cautious about expecting the same level of acclaim in international markets, instead betting on the ubiquity of the narrative and visuals that propelled Tran’s manga series to the top of the Gallic publishing charts in the first place.
“Most international buyers would consider this an original piece,” France added. “However, the success of the IP definitely made our life easier. Our commissioning editor provided immediate support and we were able to move into production quickly.”
The English-language episode shown at Cannes moved at a ferocious clip, opening in medias res with the dueling siblings already at each other’s throats and a thick line of stink hanging over them after a common Mother’s Day gift falls victim to sibling squabbles. She draws Sha, her neighbor and eternal arbiter, into the conflict, but the girl, who is the best friend of the two, can only hold back the chaos between the brothers for so long.
“We wanted to use conflict as a source of comedy and create a blend where the humor naturally comes from the situation,” France says. “The fights and pranks between the characters are treated with both fun and heart, because at the heart of this series is the special bond between two brothers, a bond that is a mixture of conflict and unity.”
Series creator Kevin Tran took a similar tone when he took the microphone after the screening, playfully expressing his bewilderment at the neologism that characterizes the series as “hula anime.”
“Who came up with this name?” he laughed.
