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Volkovinha is a Brazilian animated television series created by Tatí and Zéco (in collaboration with Armandinho and Rabisko). It is produced by Picapau Filmes along with the Maier Collina branch of Grupo Kirschner and broadcast on Poly along with TV Brasil, Disney+ and YouTube since December 2022. The series takes place in the same universe as Loba Latina, particularly Vila Matalinda introduced in the second movie from 20 years prior but features a new protagonist in a blend of slice-of-life and fantasy action-adventure genres.
The series has also been exported internationally in the months after its TV and streaming debut and a theatrical feature film was released in Latin America by Disney and Sony Pictures in December 2023, with two more set to be released in 2024.
Premise[]
(see the list of Volkovinha episodes)
Volkovinha is a pre-teen anthropomorphic gray wolf girl living in Vila Matalinda with her family and her best friend Zéca, son of hunter Rudi, who is also her puppy love interest. Both are old enough to go exploring cautiously but find themselves in one situation after another, learning something useful along the way and using only the greatest powers at their disposal: friendship, empathy, wisdom, strength and song.
Thanks to the kindly turtle sage Taruga, both Volkovinha and Zéca are given the ability to temporarily age-progress into adult forms when strength is needed to fight for who they care about. Both of them also use their skills to foil the schemes of Bruxinha Dukampa, who seeks to take over Vila Matalinda and control its residents for her selfish gain.
Characters[]
- Volkovinha - The main character and the mostly fearless, brash and independent half of the duo. She also tends to be very headstrong some times, even being prone to rejecting some sensible plans and advice for the situation she and Zéca are currently in, but knows when she's messed up in the end. Besides all that, she is very spunky and outgoing, especially being kind to her family, her friend and anyone who needs it.
- Zéca - The deuteragonist and Volkovinha's best friend. Though also a kindly lupine, he is very unlike Volkovinha in that he's way more cautious, anxious and sensible in contrast to her outgoing and take-charge disposition. He is also the more empathetic and sensitive of the two depending on the situations at hand.
- Rudi - The father of Zéca, a skilled and good-natured but anxious hunter, who worries a lot about his son's well-being due to being the only loved one he has left.
- Bonita - A werewolf who (sometime after becoming a full-on citizen of Vila Matalinda) entered the hamlet's council. She sometimes offers Volkovinha and Zéca advice.
- Marcelo - Bonita's husband, who is also in the hamlet's leadership with his wife.
- Taruga - An elderly turtle sage who grants Volkovinha and Zéca their powers, and explains to them all sorts of important things.
- Cangussa - A female jaguar who acts as Volkovinha and Zéca's maternal figure, also teaching them the importance of physical strength and fighting in self-defense/to protect loved ones.
- Bruxinha Dukampa - An evil hoary fox witch and the show's main antagonist. She is a power-seeking sadist always planning to take over Vila Matalinda, opting not to kill only because she delves on others' misery and submission. In addition to magic and dominance, she is adept at manipulation and other non-magical trickery to convince others to fall for or partake in her wicked schemes.
Production[]
With Tatí and Zéco ending their teen pop-oriented careers by late 2019, both of them desired to transition to another medium without losing interest in creating content for younger audiences. With proposals for Poly on the horizon throughout 2021 and the following year, Kirschner decided to offer (among various planned original programs with one each of different genres) younger children a network original cartoon series and the duo expressed their willingness to create a new idea for this goal.
Taking influences from classic Disney films (such as The Sword in the Stone and Bambi), Don Bluth's The Secret of NIMH, Osamu Tezuka's Unico and Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon along with Nelvana's adaptation of Rupert, the 2010 computer animated film Alpha & Omega and The Last Unicorn among others, the plan was to make "a fantasy telenovela for kindergarteners".
With Armandinho and Rabisko (respectively the creator and artist of Loba Latina) called in to assist, it was decided Zéca (a minor character from Loba Latina 2) would be aged up into a pre-teen and secondary lead with new character Volkovinha (modeled after Tatí) as the main character and Bruxinha Dukampa (also from this film) as its primary antagonist.
Release[]
The first episode "Dois Lobinhos, Um Poder" (Two Wolves, One Power in the English dub) aired on December 5, 2022 as part of Poly's evening premiere, with the second following just four days later with the remainder of the season airing new episodes on Fridays (with occasional breaks). The show's episodes were also made available to watch on Poly's website on a cyclical basis, as is typical of the channel's programming.
In February 2023, episodes of the show were also uploaded to YouTube (with ads) on Kirschner's official YouTube channel.
Outside of Latin America, the show was made available on Disney+ in parts of Europe and North America, as Disney owns international streaming and home media rights to the series. It is also livestreamed and occasionally available on a cyclical basis (albeit only in Portuguese and Spanish with optional Spanish or English captions) on the Hispanic and North American feeds of Poly.
Reception[]
The series was met with mostly positive reception from audiences, with praise towards the visuals, music, characterization and quality of writing. Comparatively, Folha de S. Paulo gave a slightly more mixed review where it opined that a "formulaic cartoon" barely made a showcase of Poly's potential for original programming, but otherwise stated the show had respectable production values for its genre.
Some audiences have also favorably compared the series to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, The Great Wolf Pack, The Owl House and David the Gnome, as well as to animated films such as The Last Unicorn (previously stated to be an inspiration) and the works of Disney and Studio Ghibli.
Volkovinha has proven to fare better outside of Brazil, enjoying popularity in the United States, Canada, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Israel and Greece etc. As of 2024, it is currently one of Kirschner's most successful IPs of the 2020's.
Music[]
As with other Kirschner and Picapau productions, the series' background score is composed by longtime collaborator João Teixeira. To fit the woodland and sometimes upbeat/kid-friendly tone of the series, musical styles such as folk, sertanejo, forró and so forth are employed.
The series' theme song "Tudo Graças a Nós" (All Thanks to Us) is performed by Tatí, with an instrumental version as the closing theme. Both are shortened versions of tracks released as a single on December 5, 2022 on digital platforms such as iTunes, Google Play and Spotify.
An album containing this and the episode's songs was made available on March 21, 2023 by Universal Music in Brazil, available on CDs and digital platforms.