Growing Up Animated: A Somber Tale of Being Happy

Premise
"Gowing Up Animated: A Somber Tale of Being Happy" is the story of a young Joshua Veil and his three best friends, Casey, Adrian, Scarlet as well as his little sisters and family members.

Joshua Veil
Joshua Veil in jest describes himself as "A guy no one gets", but he isn't completely joking. Joshua feels completely out of place in his more traditional household and often doesn't feel as close to his parents or siblings as he should be. Likewise, his lack of common interest and personality clashes with most students at his school. He's not exactly hated by the majority of students, but very few of them would talk to him. As such, Joshua feels completely lonely when he's outside the presence of his best friends.

However, Joshua tries not to sulk about his loneliness. In fact, Joshua is generally a up beat, happy and kind person who views everyone as a friend, even if he knows very few share the same outlook on him. Despite his disconnect with his family, he still loves them very much and is quite protective of his sisters. For the most part, Joshua is content with his life and is quite optimistic about life in general. He see's the best in people and never views anyone as a "bad guy". He can be seen as naive by some, but is quite intelligent.

Joshua has a depression that he tries to keep hidden from loved ones. The overall story arc of the series is Joshua trying to beat his depression and not let it ruin his life.

Joshua is one to cheerfully list his flaws. He is a total geek and child at heart with ambitions of writing for cartoons and loves anime.

Casey Roberts
Casey Roberts is one of Joshua's best friends and one of his only few friends. Casey has similar interest to Joshua, which led them to initially bond. While he isn't dumb, Casey has a bad habit of not thinking things through and has trouble following certain things. If he is given time, he can prove himself to be rather smart. Casey is a very sweet person, and is always willing to befriend others, no matter what they may have done to him. Like his friends, he happily identifies as a geek.