Black Forest the Animated Series (SAMPLE)
Kira, Black Forest
Lately, I’ve been wondering if everything I write shouldn’t be animated.
I’ve always had a deep appreciation for cartoons and their creators. (No seriously, shout out to animators…that's an insane thing to do to yourself.)
I’m a huge fan of Adventure Time (and now Fionna and Cake), Samurai Champloo, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and so many others. There’s a versatility in animation that allows it to exist on multiple planes at once, appealing to wide audiences while still being deeply personal. It can be absurd and profound in the same breath. Funny without being shallow. Heavy without being restrictive, because animation isn’t confined to the real world, its possibilities are literally endless. Things that don’t make sense in real life — and never will — aren’t questioned there. They’re simply accepted as truth. And that freedom allows stories to reach emotional places that realism sometimes can’t.
I think animated stories are often done a disservice when they’re translated into live action. I understand the appeal — every animation lover has at least one world they wish they could jump into. Hell, when I was a kid I used to wish I could literally jump into the tv and join the characters in telling their stories.
Enter modern film, CGI, and now AI, we get closer than ever. But the reason animation works isn’t because it looks real. It’s because it doesn’t have to be.
But frankly, I don’t know anything about breaking into the animation world.
(Y’all are some tight-lipped people.)
From my experience trying, it’s expensive, and I often got that “Who are you again” feeling. whenever I tried to pitch show ideas. Once, I even emailed a studio in Japan, the only Black-owned animation studio out there apparently, just to ask if they knew who to approach or how to get an animated series made.
“No. I wouldn’t be able to help with that.”
That was the entire reply.
And sure, now that I understand more about how films are actually made and sold, I get it. He really wouldn’t have been able to help with that. But still… damn.
So instead of waiting for permission, I kept writing.
Which brings me to Black Forest.
Black Forest is about a hybrid creature named Kira. She’s half Nephilim—yes, Nephilim—and half human. Which makes her a half-breed of a half-breed. In this world, Nephilim haven’t been known to exist for a very long time. They were once enemies of humanity, infamous for their cruelty, and eventually almost all of them were annihilated. The problem with human beings, though, is that we tend to take things too far.
This world is far more magical than our own, but magic itself is a consequence of corruption. Because the Nephilim perverted what God originally intended, other beings came into existence as a result—witches, hybrids, creatures that were never meant to be. Eventually, war broke out between humans and these creatures. As creatures gathered to overthrow humanity, humans were driven into a place called the Black Forest.
Peace only came through intervention.
Ancient beings known as the Oracles—giant, animal-like spirits who guarded gates to divine realms—brokered a treaty. No creature would enter the Black Forest. No human would cross its borders. Balance was restored through separation.
Until Kira.
Because she is neither fully creature nor fully human, Kira becomes a loophole—one exploited by a wood witch named S’Kaya. S’Kaya has kept Kira captive for most of her life, manipulating her into crossing into the Black Forest and unknowingly breaking the treaty. With that single act, S’Kaya gains access to human territory without consequence.
Her goal is pretty simple: finish the war. Wipe out humanity completely.
Terrified, Kira escapes and encounters a boy named Emmanuel—Manny—who is grieving the death of his best friend. When Manny learns that Kira is searching for a way to contact a dead relative of her own, he believes she may be the key to bringing his friend back to life. Alongside two others—Sybil and Gabe—their desires align just enough to set them on a journey beyond the Black Forest. What they don’t realize is that every step forward pulls S’Kaya closer to the next phase of her plan.
So yeah, that’s it. Here’s the SAMPLE, please enjoy but be easy it’s like a first draft.