Eyeing the “Arcane” and anime fandoms, Disney+ original “Eyes of Wakanda” is all about the spies who keep the secrets Wakanda doesn’t want the world to know. The new limited series from Marvel Animation, set in the world of “Black Panther,” begins in 1260 B.C. Crete. The city is immediately shown to be multicultural—from the accents to the clothing and the varied skin tones. But, sailing in off the coast, we see ships breaking through the mist with golden lion figureheads as their bows. This is the Lion’s Kingdom. What fate awaits the city?
“When you have suffered, as you have, benevolence can look like bondage.”
These words are difficult to believe when the speaker brandishes a branding iron in episode 1, “Into the Lion’s Den.” Maybe it’s the setting or that someone says, “blood and sand,” but this version of Crete reminds me of Rome in the “Spartacus” series from Starz, especially the first season. There is a sense of ancient dangers and captivity, warriors and machinations, but here there be pirates. Yet there is one face that stands out. She is tall and watchful but seems afraid. That is the guise of a spy. Soon, we are taken back, six weeks earlier, to Wakanda.
Nkati (Cress Williams), a high-ranking official and former captain of the king’s guard—a warrior second only to the king—has disappeared. Dozens of dangerous items imbued with Wakandan tech vanished with him. So, that’s not good. Needing a renegade to hunt a renegade, the leader of the Dora Milaje, Akeya (Patricia Belcher), calls on an expelled warrior who defies authority. That warrior is that face in the crowd in Crete: Noni (voiced by model and beauty mogul Winnie Harlow), of the Merchant Tribe.
“Secrecy has always been essential to Wakanda‘s security.”
Therefore, Noni must be a ghost, but the power wielded by Nkati the Lion is vast and advanced. Can a ghost grapple with a self-appointed demigod? Nkati’s pirate fleet constructs ports by throwing a single switch, and his mothership is a floating fortress. This is where you might suspect the creatives behind “Eyes of Wakanda” are fans of the smash hit “One Piece.” It’s there in the bold character designs, the grandeur of the ships, and the fight against imperialist control. The Lion is so predatory he’s building an enslaved harem, full of women who are taught the arts and told they only need to smile.
Early on, the use of propaganda to brainwash the Pride’s captives is so well integrated, I quirked a brow and wondered out loud: Who wrote this? It was Geoffrey Thorne. These characters are adept at using psychological tactics and violence to “re-educate” and force others into their cult of conquerors. If action animation is your thing, you’ll be ready for it to kick in right about here. Shockingly, that hook occurs only 14 minutes into the story, but the lure of the series is contained in the line, “Wakanda is a kingdom of many secrets.”
To guard these secrets, the hidden nation deploys a network of spies. Once known as Hatut Zeraze, they are now called War Dogs—a role you’ll remember from Nakia (Lupita N’Yongo) in “Black Panther.” Ignited by a partnership between Marvel Animation and Ryan and Zinzi Coogler’s Proximity Media, and helmed by director/executive producer Todd Harris, “Eyes of Wakanda” is not for the kids. Not the young ones, anyway. I mentioned both “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” and “Arcane” because this show doesn’t flinch away from blood, politics, or the waging of war through frontal assault or subterfuge. Another central theme examines the effects the “outside world” has on the War Dogs and how those effects change them. While their methods are sometimes questionable, the goal is always to serve Wakanda and protect the world. In attaining those goals, “Eyes of Wakanda” aligns repatriating artifacts with “Mission: Impossible,” incorporating all the feels and thrills.
As the episodes unfold, we encounter heroes and villains from Greek mythology, then travel from the Mediterranean to the East to discover the origins of another Marvel legend, and finally to Ethiopia and back. Wherever we go, if there is a Wakandan artifact to be retrieved, the Dogs of War are there. In the second episode, “Legends and Lies,” we meet Memnon/B’Kai (Larry Heron)—yes, that one—as he fights alongside Achilles (Adam Gold) in the Trojan War. Then skipping forward in time, in the third episode, “Lost and Found,” we visit China in 1400 A.D. for clandestine fun and games with the puckishly playful Basha (Jacques Colimon), the by-the-book Captain Ebo (Isaac Robinson–Smith), and a version of Iron Fist (Jona Xiao) that makes me smile (despite her blush blindness). By episode 4, “The Last Panther,” we’re off to the City of Adwa in 1896, where Prince Tafari (Zeke Alton) and Kuda (Steve Toussaint) are at odds in their perspectives and their methodologies during the first Italo-Ethiopian War.
In this final arc of the 4-episode limited series, the sci-fi deepens, taking us to unexpected places and events. Imagine a crossover of “The Matrix” and the video game “Helldivers 2” but featuring a known Marvel threat and Anika Noni Rose. This is where we realize the stories in “Eyes of Wakanda” are interconnected through more than the missions the War Dogs undertake, eventually linking the series to the live-action films and a fan-favorite moment. Friends, when the plot thickens, it’s so satisfying to watch these creatives cook.
“It is the nature of a war dog to walk their own path.”
If you’re a fan of action animation, spy-craft, and alternate history, it’s highly enjoyable to see Wakanda placed within the context of historical influence and a Marvel Universe that borders ours, one filled with technology so advanced it’s indistinguishable from magic, skills of wit and combat, and internal duals between loyalty and duty. This is a world of consequences, where Black leading characters are rendered in fullness—sometimes morally gray but forever willing to struggle against friends and foes for what they believe and the land they call home. That makes the War Dogs soldiers, but whether they are heroes or not is a matter of perspective. Moving through decades with each episode, “Eyes of Wakanda” counts the cost of “the price they pay.”
Animated in lushly tactile 3D by Axis Animation studios, with a hand-drawn opening sequence from AKA Studios that features silhouettes sketched in charcoal as fluid as ink, the visuals invite us to explore. Ryan Meinerding is the head of visual development and character design, and according to Variety, the characters’ exaggerated proportions are inspired by the great American painter, Ernie Barnes. With more visual style cues from artists like Dean Cornwell. (There might be a little homage to Klimt in the first episode, too.)
The elasticity and three-dimensional forms combined with painterly effects is poetry, enhanced by world-building and character design that cross-pollinates science fiction, history, and various global cultures. The resulting animation is kinetic, with a heartbeat, evoking the style of anime and donghua like “To be Hero X”—featuring equally enchanting fight scenes that unfold in the realm of imagination and an efficient ruthlessness. The visuals are rooted in Wakandan lore. For example, the Vibranium artifacts emit a soft purple glow reminiscent of the heart-shaped herb. The facial expressions and body language are vividly rendered, so we understand what is going on below the surface of each character. In the third episode, there’s a scene where Basha gets his feelings hurt, and the layers of emotion are laid bare for us to see.
My only major complaint is the slim episode count. Still, after “Sinners” and “KPop Demon Hunters,” I didn’t expect yet another fantastic fantasy fueled by cultures and myths adjacent to but distinct from the American mainstream. This series might not quite hit the heights of those two properties, but it does good work playing in the shadows of Wakanda and the MCU. With its imaginative machinations and gorgeously giddy action, Marvel Animation and Proximity Media deliver on the promise of the wider world of Wakanda. Long before the end of the “Eyes of Wakanda,” you’ll be geared up and ready for the next mission.
All four episodes screened for review. Now on Disney+.
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