Kamila (fictional character)

Kamila, spelled as Camila in other media, is a major fictional character in the Lovely World television series created by John Collins. Serving as one of the main protagonists for the first five seasons, she was originally developed by artists Scott Murray, Evan Hunt, and Aidan Johnson during the series's early development as a replacement for a male character that was scrapped in favor of having a single female person as a part of the group.

In the animated television series, Kamila is introduced as a person who was teleported from the real world the group was discussing, and she overall appears to be a powerful and strong woman, who wants to protect her friends from harm and frequently goes on journeys with the group to gather resources. She is revealed to have two goals, which is to become a fisherman and collect new animals as she express her love for them, especially Sheeps.

Conception and creation

Kamila was originally designed and developed by artists Scott Murray, Evan Hunt, and Aidan Johnson. The character was created during the series' initial conception. According to John Collins, before Kamila was formed, the protagonists were meant to include all four male characters named Edward, Michael, Leo, and John, who was eventually changed into a background character during the first season's production. In early screening tests, John was described as having a personality similar to Michael and Leo, and the executives had requested a change in the character, but then changed their minds and decided to delete him.

John Collins, who liked the character because it was based on his own name, requested that another character replace John. The production crew had devised another male character, but Collins requested a female character instead. He felt that having a female character would make Kamila feel "special" in comparison to the other male characters and would demonstrate that not "everyone was meant to be male," with the goal of portraying all females in a "positive light". Kamila was inspired by performer Rachel Blox, and Collins commissioned three art designers who had previously worked on other characters to work on her. Because the character's name in the original English-language version is Kamila, other dubs for overseas broadcasts have her name as Camila, which was utilized in the Spanish dub. The name was frequently mispronounced as Kamala, prompting plans to change the character's name during the third season's production, with a producer stating that a "episode would have been produced to show fans the change of Kamila's name to Camila," which was the original plan for the crew, but the idea was scrapped.

Collins and Avast Television producers requested the production crew to "take major risks" on a character that was "special to the audience" during the second season's production. John noted that the comment was made to encourage the series to take more risks with its characters, rather than ensuring them all have the same personality and features. The crew worked hard on Kamila to make her feel stronger and better than the other main characters, and she played a role in some of the series' darkest episodes rather than simply as a background character. Her love of animals was added to her character, and the production crew indicated an interest in having her choose Sheeps over others, such as wolves and cats, and prepared a lengthy script explaining her fondness for the creatures she adored. According to one of the animators, the colors of the sheep, particularly pink, highlight Kamila's core personality, describing her as a "loving female". While working on the two-part episodes "The Sheeps - The Personality" for the fourth season, Kamila was chosen as the "head character" to serves as the role for saving the animals.

Voice actors

In the English-language version of the Lovely World animated television series, particularly in the United States, Daisy Hunt provided the voice of Kamila as an adult from the first to the fifth season, and Danielle Davidson as a kid in select episodes for other appearances in related media. The Spanish-language version for Kamila (also known as Camila) is voiced by María Alejandra Tasis in the first two seasons and Ana María Mastache in the rest of the series. Alyssa Chapman voiced Kamila in the Bloxia Kingdom dub.

Appearances

In the series

Before her main debut, Kamila made her debut in a short film titled exactly as her name, which aired on November 8, 2010, as part of the Avast Television Family Time program. The short follows her as she is introduced to the gang, and they quickly become best friends and members of the group. Kamila officially first appeared in the Lovely World television series second season's episode "The Girl" that originally aired on November 26, 2011. In her interactions with the gang, the bashful Kamila discloses that she was teleported from the real world with them, eventually traveling to various places to get an big understanding of the world that she had entered in. She meets Santa instead of helping them obtain resources. In the episode "The Second Minigame", Kamila ended up winning a series of minigames while feeling good. Leo and Kamila go hunting together for the first time. When Kamila receives an invitation to perform, she is anxious about failing, but the group supports her and she does well. Together with Michael, Edward, and Leo, Kamila sets out on her official first journey. After that, Kamila explains to the group what arithmetic is. Like Leo, she spends the most of the third season as a supporting role. Kamila chooses to go out with Michael to discover the abuser after noticing a number of severely damaged sheep that have been homeless in two episodes of Season 4.

For the remainder of the episode, Kamila later finds the abuser and dares him to a fight after witnessing him yelling and attacking a Sheep member. She is stabbed in the arm by the abuser but refusing to give up, grinning and is able to defeat the person to near-death. At last, Kamila recovered and carried on spending time with the group. After finding an abandoned hamlet with one of the group's lambs, Kamila walks to the village and faces a group of "bad villagers" who are trying to steal it. In the fifth season's episode "Kamila's Attempt at Flying", after finding a group of villagers building a plane and helping them, Kamila saves herself and the locals when the plane fails during a test flight and she makes a hard anding on the ocean, before successfully stopping the plane. In the episode "The Kingdoms and the Wonder of the Weapon", which aired on April 25, 2015, after their first stay at a kingdom, Kamila voiced her concerns, but the gang rejected her, so she decides to find out the truth. Following her death-defying battle with several guards, Kamila helps the group beat "Z" and protects others while being nearly killed in the process, alongside with a group of other villagers and her friends. In a Season 5 episode, Kamila befriends a sheep. Kamila joins the crew for one last adventure after helping them defeat "Z" for good. In her major final episode "The Final Adventures — Part Two" that premiered on December 26, 2015, Kamila and the group spilt from each other, heading on their own adventure, leaving Kamila quietly in tears, but hopeful. As stated in the episode "The Wonder in Kamila", Kamila has two goals: to become a fisherman and collect new animals that she had never beforehand. Kamila also appears in special episodes of the television series, such as "The Lovely World Special — Two Years Later — Behind the Scenes!" and "Lovely World — Three Years Later" as well as the narrator for the two specials named "A New Female, One New Character" which aired on November 28, 2015.

In other media

Main article: Lovely World discography

The opening theme song, titled "Kamila" after Kamila, is dedicated to the title character. Performed by Calvin Matthew, who previously did other opening themes songs for the television series, the show only used this song in episodes 44, 65, 70, 79, and 91, all during the broadcast of the second season. Kamila also appears in video games and books related to the Lovely World television series.

Reception

Kamila has been viewed as a positive character, especially among young female children and woman. Scott Phillips named her character as one of the greatest in the Lovely World franchise, adding that "Kamila proves to herself that everyone can be strong and, despite everything that has happened to her, she smiles like a queen". However, he mentioned the possibility of Kamila having a facade, which is a false representation of their genuine feelings. Finlay Macdonald remarked that the character was one of his favorites in the television series, that he like Kamila's character growth in the third and fourth seasons, and that her role "could be a part of feminism".