Animations are a part of Xamarin Forms, and Exrin doesn't specifically deal with them, as you noted.
To trigger an animation, and keeping inline with an MVVM purist mentality, I would use a trigger.
As an example, you create a trigger, with just a class
public class BackgroundColorTrigger : TriggerAction<Entry>
{
protected override void Invoke(Entry sender)
{
sender.BackgroundColor = Color.Yellow;
}
}
Of course you could run the animation from here. Then in XAML, you would do
// Add to Page Attributes (Above Trigger is in Namespace Mobile.Trigger)
xmlns:trigger="clr-namespace:Mobile.Trigger"
<Entry Text="{Binding EntryField}">
<Entry.Triggers>
<EventTrigger Event="Focused">
<trigger:BackgroundColorTrigger />
</EventTrigger>
</Entry.Triggers>
</Entry>
But change the trigger to what you need.
Animations are pure UI concepts, and hence stay in the View project in Exrin. XAML can directly trigger an animation, and the logic can be placed in a trigger.
Source: https://xamarinhelp.com/xamarin-forms-triggers-behaviors-effects/
Animations: https://xamarinhelp.com/custom-animations-in-xamarin-forms/